NMA ADVOCATES REGULATION OF DRUG PURCHASE

By Simon Ebegbulem
BENIN - Edo State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, has urged the Federal Government to proscribe across-the-counter purchase of antibiotics and malaria drugs, lamenting that the prevailing situation was causing more deaths in the country.

State chairman of NMA, Dr Philip Ugbodaga, who stated this at the state NMA's Physician week in Benin City, yesterday, said there was gross abuse of access to some drugs by members of the public, particularly antibiotics, which, according to him, had led to the untimely death of many Nigerians.

He called for a regulation of publicity for unorthodox medicine by the mass media, noting the development had led to the indiscriminate use of 'unregulated prescriptions' most of which efficacy had not been subjected to scientific tests.

He spoke on Combating Antimicrobial Resistance, Dr Samuel Olowo, regretted that drug resistance was common in developing countries, including Nigeria, and advocated for proper legislation that will regulate the usage of such drugs.