THE SALES OF ILLICIT DRUGS (MEDICINES)

IN CAMEROON.

We all have a particular difficulty in Cameroon in the way we approach problems. Because we have that attitude, mindset and the way of doing business, we always get the same results which are FAILURE! When you do business AS USUAL, then you will always have the same results. The way the government is handling this drug issue is bound to fail. The methodology is wrong. Wishful thinking is one thing. A scientific approach to solving problems and attacking issues from the roots is another thing.

Let us look at the facts and ask ourselves some soul searching questions. To be able to understand the problem so that we can begin to solve it, we must answer these questions sincerely and look at ourselves eyeball to eyeball in honesty.

Look at the way we run our affairs. Has the government an agenda of her own to solve pertinent problems? We wait for an INTERNATIONAL DAY OF ILLICIT DRUGS then we wake up like diarrhea and sing the song for one week. Then we disappear to show up again for the same rendez-vous next year if and only if there is a budget. Have you seen a Cameroonian doing anything worth while if there is no money to it? This hit and run attitude does not work. Pharmacists have been complaining all year round about illicit drug sales and the unfair competition they face and no one pays any attention to that cry! What is so special about this present effort?

Wait until some one will suggest ‘The International day of pot-holes’ then we will wake up and make a show of filling potholes on our interurban roads. Propose a seminar to say that WATER LEFT UNCHECKED damages our road networks, then you will have all divisional delegates wishing to attended and to fly abroad to more seminars and twenty years down the road, we will still have water running over the good roads and damaging them. What is our Cameroonian culture for maintenance and continuous repairs? Look at the newly constructed government buildings and you will understand that we do not have respect for public property. We hate work. We hate work that is well done. Politics is one thing and science is another thing. Choose!

What I have been doing is to try to paint a true picture of who we are as Cameroonians so that we can fully understand the issue of illicit drug sales in Cameroon. It is a mentality problem at all levels.

Pharmacists in other countries are trained to make (manufacture), control, dispense, and sell drugs. We have more than 500 Pharmacists in Cameroon. How many of them manufacture what? Was it worth all the trouble to spend all those years, money and resources studying just to be a sales boy for some European firm? Look at the whole lot of them! They are all buying and selling. What makes them different from other ‘bayam selams” of tomatoes and potatoes? How many of them actually sell at the counter? Who is at the counter to give advice? The girl at the counter after a few years will open a drug store and sell just as she did in the pharmacy.

Why is traditional medicine such an integral part of our health system? As long as people have value for traditional medicine which is not standardized and controlled, they will consume any drug that is neatly packaged and sold to them on the streets at a good price. This has to do with our mindsets, affordability and availability of illegal drugs on the streets.

AS LONG AS the buying power of the population is so low that Cameroonians and other Africans cannot meet their daily needs of feeding, clothing, health and education, the sector of illegal drug sales will continue to flourish. The good quality well packed drugs from Europe are EXPENSIVE AND NOT AVAILABLE.

The major problem here is that of an Economic Principle of DEMAND AND SUPPLY. As long as people are sick, there would be need for medicines. These medicines MUST be AVAILABLE and AFFORDABLE. If the government can truly see how to make good drugs available and affordable, some of these problems with illegal drug sales will not go away completely but would reduce in scale and magnitude.

WHAT CAN WE DO AS A NATION TO MAKE GOOD DRUGS AVAILABLE AND AFFORDABE?

!) We must create our own Pharmaceutical Industries and produce the generic drugs we need. We can consume these and keep a strict eye on quality control. I truly wonder if we will be capable of doing this when we cannot even grow the rice and corn we need. Can you imagine us importing rice when we have agric engineers, rain, fertile lands, fertilizers, tractors and so many agric schools? Something is wrong somewhere. So what happen to the whole lot of them since independence?

2) We should import only the necessary ingredients for preparing what we need. This will cut on cost of production so that the drugs will be available and affordable.

3) If we must import drugs, we should bring in ONLY the generic types from the good accredited manufacturers from developed countries. We should have a quality control laboratory for testing every thing. We hear on the radio about poor quality drugs in Cameroon. I challenge any body to come up with a scientific and properly researched paper to show this is true. Who tested what and where and how? Some of the drugs are bad, true. We must set up a unit that truly tests drugs from all sources.

4) We must train more pharmacy technicians who will flood the market and flush out the charlatans.

5) Many young people are selling drugs as a means of survival. They do it because they have nothing else to turn to. It would make sense for the government to continue to support professional education with the acquisition of skills in many areas. This will provide jobs, job creation and fight poverty. If nothing is done, we will see more socially engineered crimes on our streets.

Notice that it is nice for the government to go out, ransack all sales points and televise the burning of the drugs. As long as the underlying problems are not addressed, the sales and consumption of illegal medicines will continue UNDER THE COUNTER. If there is no proper social engineering, as you stop drug sales, theft will go up.

 Good day.

Dr Nick Ngwanyam, MD

Surgeon & Urologist.

Tel 7776 46 74.