The Anambra State Government through the State ministry of health has collaborated with Global Fund in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), to upgrade the State Pharmaceutical Central Store to an international standard.
Commissioner for Health; Dr. Afam Obidike while flagging off the upgrading exercise reiterated the determination of Governor Chukwuma Soludo led administration in partnering with the Global Fund and UNICEF geared towards improving the State’s health sector.
While speaking at the official handover of the facility to UNICEF representative and acting Chief of Field office, Enugu, Dr. Olusoji Akinleye, the Commissioner explained that the intervention of Global Fund was timely as the State government had before now concluded plans to upgrade the store.
According to Dr. Obidike, the facility is going to be a standard medical warehouse and will therefore translate to having their drugs intact as potency of drugs are always affected by where it is stored or where it is coming from.
Obidike noted that the upgrade will help Anambra state to have Drug Management Agency that will directly get drugs from the manufacturers, and that it will make the drugs more cheaper in the state’s public hospitals and the first process to achieving it’s warehouse upgrade to accommodate the drugs and the second is to have it at the right temperature.
The commissioner also said that the State government will foot 15% percent of the bill of the drugs as Anambra is one of the 22 out of 36 states that benefited from the grant, aimed at improving the infrastructure that is used in the logistics and supply chain management of pharmaceuticals and medical commodities.
The UNICEF representative, Dr. Akinleye, said the event was targeted at strengthening the state’s logistics management system, as part of the health system in the state and that the project would be delivered within four months.
The principal recipient for the grant is the National Tuberculosis and Leprosy Control Programme (NTBLCP), and other collaborating government partners include the National Product Supply Chain Management Programme (NPSCMP), the National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), and the Department of Health Planning, Research and Statistics (DHPRS).
