In a stakeholders’ meeting organized by the pharmaceutical sector to discuss the post ebola recovery measures, the Registrar of the Pharmacy Board Sierra Leone, Wilshire Johnson has disclosed that over two hundred and forty billion leones worth of drugs were imported into the country in the past two years.
While he was addressing stakeholders representing the Pharmaceutical Society of Sierra Leone and the Pharmaceutical Business Association of Sierra Leone, the Registrar said that was the official figure.
He went on to say that 95% of this figure is accounted for by non-governmental organisations (NGOs), adding that only 5% of this are accounted for by the government and private sector as well. From this allocation, he continued that only 40% is imported by the government.
Highlighting some of the challenges faced by the board, the registrar said the competition among wholesalers and retailers is a serious problem being that wholesalers sell a drug at the same price to both the retailer and the consumer. He said that is why retailers buy stolen government and NGO drugs.
Another problem, he stated, is that the transportation of medicines on baskets and wheel barrows is common. This, he said, does not add value to the profession. Another challenge, he said, is the distribution of pharmacy stores as there are more stores in the urban areas as compared to the rural areas. He stated that places like Pujehun and Port Loko do not have any private pharmacy.
In order to address these issues, Mr Johnson said that next year only retailers will be permitted to run shops. No wholesaler or distributor, he said, will be allowed to own shops and that any one violating this rule will his or shop shut down.
Secondly, he stated that by next year, importers should have distribution facilities in order to stop the degrading manner in which drugs are transported. “Wholesalers should distribute to retailers,” he stressed.
“Import permit will only be given before the drugs are imported into the country not after. No prescription drugs should be placed on counter and all pharmacies must have land phones and internet facilities in order to enable pharmacist check for drugs interactions. Pharmacies at lorry parks would be closed,’ he maintained.
Furthermore, he said they would identify areas without pharmacy at chiefdom headquarters and will allocate shops to those areas.
Participants at the meeting welcomed the proposed plan but some questioned the stability of those private pharmacies that will be allocated at the chiefdoms.
By Edna Smalle
November 24, 2015
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