FG, USAID move against chaotic medicines distribution

The Federal Government will address the current chaotic distributions of medicines and other health commodities in the country with the construction of a N1billion Warehouse -in-a Box (WIB) project.

Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Health (FMoH), Linus Awute disclosed this at the ground breaking ceremony for the laying of blocks of the WIB project at Federal Medical store in Oshodi, Lagos.

According to him, the $5millon facility for pharmaceutical products supported by the United States Agency for `International Development’s (USAID) in partnership with the Global Fund for AIDS,TB, and Malaria (GFATM) will aid storage of drugs in good conditions.

Awute said that the national guideline stipulates that drugs do not have to be chaotically distributed and that they are essential products that should be properly stored throughout their life span for efficacy.

The Permanent Secretary said the stores in Lagos will serve as the only central storage hub for health products procured by the ministry, local and international agencies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) working in partnership with the ministry.

Also, USAID Mission Director in Nigeria, Michael Harvey said the project is a state-of-the-art pharmaceutical facility with innovative technology called WIB.

He said the facility would double the storage capacity of the existing warehouse and make it easier for the federal ministry of health to buy, store, track and distribute drugs to health care centres.

Harvey said over 7,000 health facilities across Nigeria would receive commodities from the two new warehouses adding that the warehouses would also reduce the cost and time of transporting livesaving medicines and equipment to all parts of the country.

Harvey said the U.S. government provided N800 million ($4million) while GFATM contributed N200 million ($1million), and Nigeria provided the land.

Meanwhile, Acting U.S. Consul-General in Nigeria Dehab Ghebreab said the facility would be part of a network of warehouses the U.S. government was supporting through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) in Lagos.

Ghebreab said many clinics experience shortages which lead to people buying counterfeits medicines.

From left : USAID Country Director, Michael Harvey; Acting U.S. Consul General Dehab Ghebreab, and Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Health, Linus Awute, at the launch of the Warehouse-in-a-Box project in Lagos recently.