Community pharmacists have urged the Federal Government to include them among those to get Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other palliatives for the health sector.
National Chairman of Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) Dr. Samuel Adekola, in a statement yesterday, lamented that Nigeria had conducted less than 15,000 tests compared to Ghana’s 70,000 tests, South Africa (100,000 tests) and Egypt with close to 60,000 tests.
He attributed the setback to the government’s failure to engage the private sector, particularly community pharmacies, and private laboratories.
Adekola called for the engagement of community pharmacists in data gathering and COVID-19 testing with Rapid Molecular Diagnostic strips, saying this initiative could become a game changer as witnessed in advanced countries.
He said: “The health care sector, especially in the downstream, prominently positioned community pharmacies as a veritable instrument for positive health care interventions in our country just as in other advanced economies.
“As Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), we are in line with the government’s mandate in providing health care service as a social responsibility to the populace.”
However, Adekola said finding a favourable and low-priced funding had been a barrier to the growth and existence of community pharmacies.
‘Worse still is the challenge of astronomical increase in the price of products, which has characterised the COVID-19 era’.
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