allAfrica.com: Nigeria: PEPFAR Drug Store Fire - Idigbe Allays Fears Over HIV Treatment Programme (Page 1 of 1)

Nigeria: PEPFAR Drug Store Fire - Idigbe Allays Fears Over HIV Treatment Programme

BEFORE it went up in flames inthe early hours of Saturday,April 26, 2008, the Harvard/PEPFAR Central Medical/Pharmacy warehouse and drug store at the Nigeria Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos, was the biggest and most sophisticated drug storage facility in the country.

Until it was razed down, the ultramodern and fully computerised warehouse served as the central control point for about 29 other Harvard/PEPFAR sites in the country providing essential treatment and other care and support services for an estimated 40,000 persons living with HIV and AIDS.

Drugs and other medical materials and components valued at about N240 million were lost in the early morning inferno. Soon after the incident, anxiety swept through the entire HIV & AIDS intervention community locally and internationally, moreso amongst the community of PLWA and the public at large.

Debris of the burnt-out Harvard/PEPFAR Central Pharmacy warehouse last week. Photo by Sola Ogundipe

However, about 48 hours following the tragedy, Good Health Weekly spoke to the Director General of the Institue, Dr. Oni Idigbe, who regretted the development, but gave assurance that it would not cause a major disruption in the on-going treatment programme under the PEPFAR initiative. The DG confirmed that the cause had been traced to an electrical spark within the building caused by the sudden restoration of power supply after a blackout.

In his account, Idigbe, who said there was no cause to suspect foul play, confirmed that the fire, which started in the early hours completely destroyed the building in which sensitive drugs and medicaments for the treatment and control of HIV infection and other allied disorders were housed.

His words: "I was in Abuja when I got a call at about 12.30 to 1.00 AM that the drug warehouse was on fire. I was worried all through the night and kept in touch until about 6.00 AM when I was told that the fire men were able to quell the fire.

Fire fighters came from all over the city, and all the residents in the NIMR compound with their wives and children came out to combat the fire but it is just unfortunate that it had to go like that."

The warehouse, officially commissioned in 2006, was a store for anti-retroviral drugs, laboratory reagents and special drugs for opportunistic infections including other sensitive materials for palliative care for the Harvard-PEPFAR project in Nigeria for PLWA in Nigeria. Although there are other sites nationwide, the burnt warehouse was the main store for all drugs coming into the country before distribution.

Assuring there would be no gaps in the treatment cycle as a result of the incidence, he noted: "Already, steps have been taken to bring in more drugs to cushion the effects of the fire at the warehouse. We have ordered a replacement for the drugs that were lost and it will take a month or so to arrive, within which time the buffer in the sites will suffice.

At any point in time, each site has a buffer of not less than two months drug supply, while the national store also keeps a buffer of six to eight months supply of drugs. The programme operates in such a way that the drug cost for an entire year is estimated and paid to the suppliers which in turn release the drugs on quarterly basis following instructions from the programme authorities.

So there will not be gaps because there are enough drugs at the other PEPFAR sites which along with the Federal government programme will act as buffer. There is no cause for alarm."

Corroborating the DG, Dr. Enerst Ekong Dr. Prosper Okonkwo, the Chief Clinical Officer and Chief Executive Officer, respectively, for the Harvard/PEPFAR project assured the public, in a signed press statement, that the loss of the state of the warehouse, would not affect the patients on treatment.

Also, Senior Research Fellow, Dr. Dan Ownujekwe of NIMR gave a similar verdict, assuring that the fire incident would have no negative effect on drug adherence especially as patients had been assured that their treatment would not be interrupted.

He, however, admitted that some patients had panicked on hearing about the fire incident and some who had collected their drugs for the month had come back claiming not to have collected in other to have more drugs.

This, he noted, was done in panic and that they have assured and will continue to assure their patients that their treatment will in no way be interrupted. Calling on the Federal government to step up the fire fighting measures in the country.

Further, the NIMR DG lamented that the current level of emergency preparedness on a national level was appalling. "On a national level, government has to do something drastic about the fire fighting strategies. We really need to improve our fire-fighting services.

That night, we went around buying tankers of water to quell the fire. We have boreholes, but unfortunately there was no source of power with which the fire trucks could get the water out. I'm recommending that every fire-fighting station should have a bore hole well equipped with a water pump.

web allafrica.com	Enter your search terms	Submit search form
OR subscribers use AllAfrica's premium search engine


Use our pull-down menus to find more stories