The newly inaugurated Pharmaceutical Wholesalers and Distributors Association of Nigeria (PWDAN) has been urged to work assiduously to achieve the association’s objectives.

Dr. Ahmed Yakasai, a former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), made the call virtually at the inauguration ceremony of PWDAN on Wednesday.

Yakasai, also the Chairman of the inauguration ceremony, said that PWDAN had come up with a laudable objective; a mission and vision to bring sanity and integrity to the pharmaceutical supply chain in the country.

“We know the problem of drug distribution in Nigeria, and we have been talking about it for a very long time, but I think now is the time to put an end to this problem.

“As an individual, I am sick and tired of the way we do drug business in the country. As pharmacists, we must be sincere to tell ourselves the truth.

“So, I expect PWDAN members to remain committed to their objective and goals in everything they do, and they must work with other bodies present to achieve their aims,” he said.

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Yakasai, who is also the Founder of Pharmaplus Ltd., advised pharmaceutical manufacturers and suppliers to embrace blockchain technology.

“We cannot shy away from blockchain technology; we have to go through the rigors to learn about block chain technology from manufacturers to end-users.

“We must be IT-driven in whatever we want to do as practitioners in this field or else, we will remain in the analog stage,” he said.

Yakasai also called for a concerted effort to meet the deadline of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) of the Federal Government.

Federal Government released the NDDG in 2012 to address the challenges of the drug supply chain and ensure that medicine that gets to consumers are effective, qualitative, safe, and affordable.