The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has advocated a new path to solving the brain drain challenges in the health sector. This was made known during its annual 2-day educational conference, with the theme, “Overcoming Brain-Drain Challenges in Community Pharmacy,” held in Ikeja, Lagos.
In his goodwill message, Chairman of the occasion, Managing Director/CEO Pharmcare Support Services, Pharm Iyke Ugwu, said the conference theme was to interrogate the current ‘Japa syndrome’ and its effect on pharmacy practice in Nigeria. “I think we need to treat brain drain as just one of the issues that pharmacy practice has in Nigeria; it is possible that if we work hard and reposition our practices, many of us will prefer to remain here,” he said.
In his welcome address, ACPN Lagos chapter chairman, Pharm Lawrence Ekhator, said one of the ways to stem the tide of the mass exodus of health workers, including pharmacists, is for the government to guarantee the welfare and security of the citizens as stated in the Constitution. “That is all we ask that the government simply guarantees the welfare and security of the citizens because that is the reason why a lot of us are leaving. Once the government guarantees those two and put measures in place to mitigate security and welfare issues, then you will see that a lot of Nigerians, and community pharmacists included, will put things in place that would enable them to thrive.
“Even in this severe security situation, a lot of Nigerians, a lot of pharmacists are still putting in measures to thrive. But the more they’re putting things to thrive, the more it seems the government brings other things to make it difficult. For example, one of the basic welfare issues is the lack of cash. We are not asking the government to give us cash. We are saying just make it available. Let us work for it and have it but the government has made it difficult. We thank God that there has been a light at the end of the tunnel and we believe that will be alleviated. So if the government can do their parts, then it becomes easy to stem the mass exodus of members of the community pharmacy society,” he said.
Chief Operating Officer Pan-Atlantic University, Dr Peter Bamkole, Director and head of Gender at the Enterprise Development Centre Pan-Atlantic University, Mrs Nneka Okekearu, suggested that the way to tackle brain drain in the sector was to educate school children, especially women on the need to study pharmacy. She said: “I want to believe that we don’t have brain drain in the pharmacy sector; some numbers are saying 5,000 and 15,000, but we are a nation of 200 million plus. So if you think about it, how can that be a drain? Drain means that the thing has finished. So if it is 15,000, that’s not even a drain; 1% of 200 million is 20milion; .01% of 200milion is 2million. I believe that what we have is a young generation who are not interested in studying pharmacy.
“So because of that, the pipeline of people coming in is not there. We need the more of younger generations to study medicine, engineering, and science especially women because when women come in they have a different perspective on solving problems. What we need as an association is to encourage young people by going to secondary schools to talk to them about taking up science subjects,” she said.
The Founder and Executive Business Consultant, Drug and Medicaments Nigeria Limited, Pharm Chidi Okoro, lectured his colleagues on the topic, “Leveraging the Untapped Opportunities in E-Commerce for Community Pharmacists,” especially at a time Nigeria is fasting moving to a cashless economy.