In this episode of The Coffee Table, the Host and CEO of Nairametrics, Ugo Dre, sits down with Samuel Okwuada, co-founder and CEO of Remedial Health. Samuel, a pharmacist turned software engineer and entrepreneur to shed light on the largely invisible system that determines whether safe and effective medicines reach patients across Nigeria.
At the start of the conversation, Samuel states that over 30 percent of the medicines consumed by Nigerians are substandard. According to him, it means that nearly two out of every ten medicine packs purchased may be compromised, putting public health at serious risk.
He further explains that one of the major drivers of this problem is fragmentation within Nigeria’s pharmaceutical logistics system.
Additionally, Samuel clarifies that the issue is not always about completely fake medicines and notes that in many instances, the challenge lies in substandard drugs, whose effectiveness is reduced due to poor manufacturing processes, inadequate packaging, or improper handling during transportation and storage.
When addressing the issue of counterfeits, Samuel explains that many fake medicines today are almost impossible to distinguish from genuine products.
To combat this, he highlights that Remedial Health employs mobile authentication scratch cards which customers verify the authenticity of medicines through text messages and suggest a need for a change in untrained people operating in the medical space and advises that medicine distribution should be handled strictly by properly licensed pharmaceutical distributors who understand and adhere to established guidelines for wholesaling and distribution.
