Victoria Mbangwa
In a significant move to enhance healthcare delivery, the Lagos State Government has initiated the process of establishing a drug manufacturing agency to ensure access to high-quality medications and medical consumables.
This announcement was made by the Lagos State Commissioner for Health, Prof. Akin Abayomi, during the opening of the 7th Nigeria Pharma Manufacturers’ Expo in Lagos on Wednesday, where he said that the state is committed to promoting local drug manufacturing while ensuring total quality assurance.
The event, which is the largest pharmaceutical manufacturing exhibition in West and Central Africa, was attended by major stakeholders in the industry, including representatives from 55 international companies and 100 members of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN).
Prof. Abayomi revealed that the state government is currently drafting a law for the establishment of the drug manufacturing agency. Once finalized, the draft will be submitted to the cabinet and subsequently passed on to the Lagos State House of Assembly for approval.
He said, ”The Lagos State Government is already writing a draft law on the drug management agency, it will be submitted to the cabinet and passed on to the Lagos Assembly.
“Many states have done it. We are left behind because we have so many industrial platforms in Lagos and Ogun states, and most of these drugs are produced in our vicinity.
“This will enable Lagos not only to promote local manufacturing, but to also promote the idea of total quality assurance, including random testing alongside NAFDAC, and form a collaboration with the private sector.”
“Today represents another of those occasions that you are making it clearly understood by all stakeholders and policymakers, that this is what you require to drive that local industry of self-sufficiency in the health sector and the pharmaceutical industry.
He concluded by expressing the state government’s determination to ensure that citizens are not exposed to substandard or dangerous medications.
“In so doing, we must ensure that we’re not putting our citizens at risk because a substandard drug can result in severe morbidity, sickness or death,” he said.
NAN.
