 Thank you for staying with us. You're so onto the breakfast on plus TV Africa right now is time for our hot topic Well, we're talking about the reps move to check indiscriminate sale of drugs and joining me to discuss this is dr Kephas Wilder Is a vice president of a night. Good morning. Thank you for joining us okay, good morning to you all in the studios and Well as you asked drugs Biscuits or sweets that people toile around with drugs in themselves poisons and if not hand Drugs can be counterproductive of the aim that is meant for so drugs for us in the medical field Regarded as weapons because we use them to treat we use them to administer and we use them to Do a whole lot of things but As you rightly said drugs are not things people should just handle because they have access to drugs administer and drugs in themselves are chemical weapons So even if it is used for its purpose if it is not used Appropriately then a result of its use can end up to be Deplicating so that is our idea of what drugs are and As you rightly said these are things that have to be regulated from the side of government from side of policy makers And all that are involved in its usage Okay, so talking about you know bringing it to the policy makers now we're on to In discriminate sale of drugs, so you've said you know they can be a weapon and if you don't use them appropriately It can be counterproductive, but we're talking about people not being sold these drugs Many due to indiscrimination What do you think do you think this is the right move by the House of Representatives to you know, just check it It's okay to you know ask these people you need to have a doctor's prescription because that way You know we're sure that whatever you're coming to buy these drugs for it would not be counterproductive for you So it is specific to maybe treat an ailment or you know just help alleviate whatever problems you have in your body But then there might be some people that you know want to get this and there's some form of discrimination So do you think this is the right move by the Representatives to check this in discriminate sale of drugs The whole idea is to bring a balance between use and abuse For everything not just drugs for everything we see in society today. If not checked abuse is inevitable so all I think I want to believe I've not gone through the details of the bill the National Assembly is working on But generally speaking in every same climb if you look at countries with very good health indices There is a lot of control on the usage of drug and I don't think as a country We are any different from those regulations because as I said earlier drugs are not Cookies they are not sweets or biscuits that you could just go get them and Decide on how to use them and when to use them and that is why Drugs have a requirement that is called prescription and accept that is given any other use outside that is for us in the medical field is abuse and I Want to commend the National Assembly in this move, but it goes beyond that When you are not a law, there are a lot of other factors that will go around implementation I believe that is as important as the law itself because if you move to get to a point where Drugs will be regulated then what system have you put in place to making sure that the regulation is done without bottlenecks and I think that is What I take on that and well It's a good move, but the other aspect of it has to be put in place too because the Nigerian population is Is made up of a large number of Ignorance citizens so not ignorance with regards just literacy but ignorance with regards health-seeking Behavioral ignorance with regards handling of drugs. So that that that I think It's important We'll come back to what you would like as a medical practitioner to be in that law If if they're talking about it because it has not been passed already So I'm sure you will have some inputs to that law if you have the opportunity, but right now I know that there are drugs that are called prescription drugs and they are drugs that are of the counter So when we're talking about drugs, are we talking about everything drugs? Maybe including that both that are the The women you hawk all around the Dogo arrow that people drink and all that so when you're talking about regulating the sale of drugs What kind of drugs are there? Is there a discrimination between these drugs or every drug? You can think of will be in that category Every drug should have a regulation every in every sense of it Because as simple as a pill for pain if you don't regulate it It can be abused. So when we talk about regulation for drug, we are not restricting it to just the Conventional drugs that you would need a doctor's prescription to get but the regulation here is all-in-compassing Let me give you an example You have someone who can drugs under a sun temperature of over 40 degrees Now these drugs have ways of storage and they also have Regulations as to what temperature they can function on that. So it's already this kind of drugs to those harsh temperatures Obviously, you are not you are selling you are not selling more than just a powder encapsulated in a pack so These are the regulation not just restrictions to access but as well Restrictions to how these drugs are used how they are sold Who buys them and who sells them? So this is very important Okay, so since we're talking about the use of drugs, I mean I live in a generation whereby there is drug abuse So you see things like some cough syrup that the young ones are taken They just take it and it makes them feel high or you know, some other pills that they just pop These are drugs that you can get off the counter But then they overdose it and it gives them a certain type of high. So how do you think? We can combat this. I know there is a prescription policy that they're trying to bring That's what the the reps are trying to do now with this move But how do you think we can combat this because a lot of times, you know, there might still be some loopholes whereby? Someone can as well go with a prescription, but then they're buying it to still get high So aside to this whole prescription policy that the reps are trying to introduce What other way can we make sure that we combat the abuse of drugs in Nigeria? Okay, the law in itself that the National Assembly is trying to work on is not just about The law regulating prescription that we have to get clear We have to understand also that the regulation goes beyond just getting a prescription Before you have access to these drugs It includes production includes who sells drugs It includes how these drugs are sold it includes this but the regulations around even the chain of Movements of these medications. So for the first the the the point here is This have to be regulated under those conditions Okay Okay, so I understand that this needs to be regulated But I'm just wondering ways we can, you know, literally combat it and the reason why I'm asking this is also supposed to be some form of Awareness I know some people, you know go around asking for or putting out awareness There are NGOs that talk about here that you know, even help people who are probably hooked on drugs at the moment So I'm wondering if there are other ways Like I've just mentioned awareness that could actually you know Just help to combat this this kind of menace of a situation that we have in Nigeria Hello, doctor Because All of that is also important because it's just it's beyond Just having a lot as I said earlier There are a lot of other things that will have to come into play things like advocacy things like educating the populace things like having the People that are within the circle of the use of this drug come together and harmonize Strategy and harmonize a way forward of having this as a corporate social as well because it's You know when you handle things that have capacity to have people It's good You also have the moral conscience to make sure that these do not go out to cause harm to people and That is very very important and as you said the coming in of NGOs the coming in of civil society organizations and also those within the cycle the media and Of course what you people are doing now to making sure that people understand what drugs are and How those things are used Okay, right now, maybe there's some form of regulation because People cannot even buy the drugs anymore. I'm talking about the orthodox drugs now A cut of paracetamol is almost like 500 naira. So a lot of people are not buying it So there is it opens another chapter now of something that is worrisome people are now going to the traditional medicine which has no form of a Dosage which has nothing like that. So Where is the place of traditional medicine in all of this because people may be running back to the traditional medicine? And what is the? Medical world doing about our traditional medicine so that we can have some regulation in that quarters as well We can know the dosage that we are taking we can know the dangers and the benefits and all that and improve upon it So that you know, we can't just be talking about the orthodox medicine and living our traditional medicine Which may also have adverse effects. Okay. Yes, you're right because These are when I say drugs in quotes that do not even have prescriptions or guidelines so Africa has a whole lot of belief in that system No, but again that has to be regulated as you said Well, we have a body a regulating body for that currently operational in the country that have their terms that guides the use as well as Vectin what contents are in these medications? But beyond all of this it is also important for people to understand the dangers of this medication because for for those traditional concoctions that are put together in the name of herbal medications have Very harsh adverse effects some would can have Capacity of shutting down your kidneys by just taking them So a lot of work needs to be done in that area because the economy is hitting hard and people will resort to what really can afford because if we have an alternative and It is beyond our reach which is the orthodox for instance And then the traditional one is readily available and is something that can be afforded If people naturally will tend to gravitate towards that But you know the the problem is in the societal understanding of the dangers of this because now if you are told that mr. A took this and Got fine and obviously maybe the person is someone you know and someone you had gone through the profile of his illness And you discovered this this really works of course it's convincing and the people retelling these traditional concoctions People that have high convincing power. So you now see the whole lot of glamour believe and pursuit of what they Are doing really it's really bad, but I think a lot needs to be done in that regard They will involve the medical practitioners who will really know what to say and not just stay there and make the laws that may not be all Compassing But we do hope that this will come to pass and that we can also afford drugs and the drugs that we need to afford We're praying for that as well. We'd like to thank you. Dr. Kephas Wilder for coming on the program this morning Thank you. Thank you Dr. Kephas Wilder is the vice president of national association of resident doctors He was talking to us on they move by reps to Enact laws that will check in discriminate sale of drugs will take a short break and will be back with the next hot topic