It is no longer news that,over 70%of hospitals in Nigeria do not have qualified pharmacist, but pharmacy services are rendered in such hospitals. Against this backdrop, the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria said it had concluded arrangements to declare a state of emergency on hospital pharmacy practice across the country.
The Registrar/Chief Executive, PCN, Elijah Mohammed, represented by its Deputy Director (Pharmacy Practice), Peter Iliya, stated this in Abuja during an event organised by the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, in commemoration of this year’s World Pharmacists Day.
He described the move as necessary because of the irregularities in the practice of hospital pharmacy in the country.
Mohammed said, “With what we see on the field in terms of hospital pharmaceutical practice, we need to declare a state of emergency. We believe with that, things can be better; we can still make pharmaceutical practice what it is supposed to be.
“About 60 per cent of health consumers consult pharmacists before accessing any form of medical care from anywhere else, giving the profession a prime position as far as health care delivery is concerned.”
According to him, the PCN is also working on modalities needed to enforce a national drug guideline to aid pharmacists on community practice to clamp down on illegal practitioners of the profession.
A pharmacist, Joel Adagadzu, urged his counterparts to remain steadfast and endure the challenges involved in practising the profession, adding that pharmacists would remain important to health care delivery in the country.
ADVERTISEMENT
He said, “We have been having a lot of challenges; we are always fighting for our rights. Unless we are able to endure the challenges, we will be unable to succeed. Practitioners must exercise the spirit of endurance. We are looking forward to when the practice of pharmacy will be respected as it is in other countries.”
Earlier, the Chairman of PSN in FCT, Bridget Otote, reaffirmed the commitment of pharmacists to ensuring a veritable partnership with other colleagues in the health sector for improved health care delivery.
Otote said that PSN would continue to ensure that the practice of pharmacy evolved from only focusing on medicine supply to an inclusive focus on patient care and also from supplier of medicine to providers of service, information and patient care.