Pharmacy
 Chief Pharmacist, Bulus Yayok |
Around 50% of all
the medicines sold in Nigeria are fake or of substandard quality. The
Nigerian government has taken this as a serious challenge and has been
working through laws and regulations to improve the situation, but the
problem remains. One difficult task facing Evangel Hospital is how to
provide reliable, good quality drugs at affordable prices. Unlike many
hospitals here, we do not just write a list of medicines for the
patient's family to go and buy anywhere they can. |
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Our professional
pharmacists and drug committee have built and maintained a supply of
essential drugs. Whenever possible, we purchase them from international
organizations such as the International Dispensary Association (IDA) in
the Netherlands that provide medicines in bulk to nonprofit
organizations in the third world. Unfortunately, restrictions have made
it virtually impossible for us to receive significant quantities of
donated drugs. |
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Many drugs,
especially the expensive and most modern ones, are unavailable. For
example our arsenal of cancer chemotherapy consists of vincristine,
prednisone, cyclophosphamide, and methotrexate. But we're glad that we
at least can provide the most important drugs for most patients, and
that we emphasize the basics rather than the glitter! (Many drugs that
we do not stock at Evangel are available at private pharmacies, but may
be expensive and of unknown quality). |
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Some examples of
medicines available at Evangel Hospital
|
| Antibiotics |
Analgesics & Anti-inflammatory
drugs |
Anti-seizure drugs |
Cardiovascular drugs |
| penicillin |
acetaminophen |
phenobarbital |
propranolol |
| ampicillin |
aspirin |
diazepam |
methyldopa |
| erythromycin |
various oral and injectable NSAIDS
|
phenytoin |
nifedipine |
| co-trimoxazole |
pentazocine |
carbamazepine |
hydralazine |
| gentamicin |
Dermatological drugs |
|
digoxin |
| cloxacillin |
Antimalarials |
lidocaine |
| chloramphenicol |
Whitfield's ointment |
artemesinins |
epinephrine |
| metronidazole |
benzyl benzoate |
quinine |
atropine |
ceftriaxone
|
econazole cream |
chloroquine |
captopril |
| tetracycline |
betamethasone cream |
Fansidar |
various other antihypertensives
|
| ciprofloxacin |
|
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