…to hold 96th Annual National conference in Gombe
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, says poor funding and poor regulation from the Federal government have led to the proliferation of unregistered pharmaceutical premises and open drug markets across the country.
According to the Society, there are currently over two million unregistered pharmaceutical premises and more than thirty – five open drug markets, including dispensing physicians in private hospitals, a thriving drug abuse and misuse culture which is consuming Nigerians, especially the youths and women.
President of PSN, Prof. Cyril O. Usifoh made these known in Lagos on Saturday at a news briefing heralding the 96th Annual National Conference of the PSN tagged “Jewel City 2023” in Gombe State from October 30 to November 4.
He said the conference with the theme: ‘Pharmacy Practice: A Pivot to Universal Health Coverage in Nigeria’ would be held at the International Conference Centre, Bauchi Road in Gombe State, while the keynote address would be delivered by the Deputy Governor of the State, Dr. Menassah Daniel Jata
Prof Usifoh who sought the prompt intervention of the Chief Law Officer of the country to guide President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s administration on the challenge of both the lack of funding for the PCN and the appointment of a substantive registrar to man the regulatory body, identified poor patronage by government officials who prefer foreign medicines either due to lack of trust or incentives by multinationals, emphasized that these are detrimental to the growth of local drug manufacturers.
“We have clamored for a drug revolving fund to be adopted in all our public hospitals as it has been proven to be a reliable method of ensuring funding for medications and medical consumables in hospitals. It involves a seed fund that is used strictly for the purchase of needed medications and consumables, proceeds plowed back into the system continually, will lead to the availability of funds for both the expansion of the stock capacity of the facility and repayment of the seed fund. As it stands, institutions where this model was practiced judiciously have great success stories to tell. However, some sadly collapsed because the hospital management started interfering and misappropriating the funds leading to stock outs and outright discontinuation of the scheme “. Usifoh said
According to him, “It is important to note that, recently, some local manufacturers signed an MOU with the NHIA to brand over 30 products, which is a welcomed development. The health sector is not insulated enough from the challenges of the economy, we acknowledge the significant improvement in the activities of the National Health Insurance Agency, so we call for urgency to scale up operations and bring more Nigerians under health insurance as out-of-pocket health expenditure is impoverishing more Nigerians”
Pointing out that the sector is not immune to the exodus of highly skilled professionals, popularly known as Japa syndrome, the PSN President stated that this has put an enormous burden on the system as the vacuum left behind is not being filled up fast enough and Nigerians are increasingly denied access to life and money saving pharmaceutical care which the pharmacists is best suited to provide.
The Society commended the Federal government for approving the review of the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) for Health Professionals in the Federal Public Service with effect from June 1st.
“We acknowledge that a few steps like the new salary structure and consultancy cadre, together with the PCN Act are welcome but much more is needed to significantly reverse the trend,” he said.
The PSN president expressed satisfaction with the Pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria saying, the progress made represents great achievements for the sector and thanked former President Muhammadu Buhari for signing the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria Act 2022 as the new Pharmacy Council of Nigeria is now better positioned to rise to contemporary challenges bedeviling the practice of Pharmacy in all its ramifications
The Chairman of the conference, Mr Valentine Okelu, announced that the PSN intends to use the conference as a platform for investors to interact with the Gombe state government to identify areas of mutual interests.
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