The Provost of the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Prof. David Adewale Oke has revealed that some surgeons and other medical professionals involved in patient surgery have a tendency to become addicted to narcotic drugs used as post-operative painkillers.
The revelation came as the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, NAFDAC, has pledged to ensure the availability of narcotic drugs for medical and scientific purposes in the country.
Oke who spoke at the launch of the International Narcotics Control Board, INCB annual report availability supplement and precursor report 2023 by NAFDAC in Lagos, Southwest Nigeria, said not only members of the public indulge in abuse of medical narcotics.
A press release from NAFDAC stated that Oke, who was represented by a professor of psychiatry at the College of Medicine, Prof. Olatunji Aina, expressed further regret over the fact that medical professionals who use these drugs for their patients’ care often develop drug addictions from the substances.