Ahead of his inauguration, the newly-elected president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa, has unveiled a seven-point agenda on how he will improve healthcare delivery, reports ADEKUNLE YUSUF
The new president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Sam Ohuabunwa, has promised to improve the health sector.
At his maiden briefing in Lagos to herald his inauguration, the industrialist unveiled a seven-point agenda.
To achieve this, Ohuabunwa, a pharmacist, said top on his list is the provision of a framework for healthcare.
The PSN chief also said he would integrate pharmaceutical care and actualise take-off of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) for proper drug distribution to reduce adulterated and fake drugs in the market.
On drug and substance abuse, he said the problem would stop when pharmacists were allowed to take the custody of drugs as it is done globally and educated Nigerians on the effects drugs abuse.
“We can all agree that our country will fare better if, we (pharmacists), take control of drugs and medicines as it is done in civilised climes of the world.The carefree attitudes with which drugs have been handled have resulted in the hydra-headed monster of drugs and substance abuse, and we are struggling to take control. If nothing drastic is done, our security indices, which is frightening, may worsen and the entire security fabric of our nation may collapse,” he warned.
The industrialist added that he would boost ehance pharmacists welfare and let their voices count on drug-related issues.
”We shall protect and fence the profession. As you know, every service you can get from many sources no longer attracts respect. If people can access medicines anywhere, anyhow, in the market, on the street, on the road, then the role and significance of a pharmacist is diluted. So, our desire is to protect the profession and create an environment that will ensure that the way drugs are distributed and handled gives opportunity for both the empowerment of pharmacists and gives integrity to medicines.
“I know we’ve been speaking about this for a long time and I’m happy that the government has provided some guidelines for drug distribution to limit the availability of drugs in wrong hands. I will work with PCN and other relevant bodies to ensure that the guidelines are properly implemented.”
Also integral to his agenda are issues of equity and fair play as well as proper remuneration of pharmacists in the public and private sectors. He promised to solve the rivalry problem in the setor, which he said, would bring about improvement in healthcare delivery. “Look at hospital pharmacy; it is marginalised. When I was a young pharmacist, the difference between what I earned and what my young medical doctor colleague earned was so small. It was because they were just one grade above us, because they spent one year more on education.
“Now, the number of years in training is becoming similar, but the gap in income has widened. I believe this is because we have not appropriately made our case to the right quarters. There are agencies of government mandated with fixing of salaries and we need to show what the job profile of a pharmacist is and its relativity to other healthcare and non-healthcare workers and professions,” he said.
The former Neimeth boss also promised to push for the signing into law of the Pharmacy Bill, which has been passed by the National Assembly, but awaiting presidential assent. According to him, the bill is not for pharmacists alone, but all Nigerians because it promises to revolutionise and strengthen all aspects of pharmacy and healthcare.
Displeased by the hardships young pharmacy graduates go through in getting internship placements, Ohuabunwa said his administration would address the difficulties by bridging the gap to ease internship placement for new pharmacy graduates.”I will also focus on improving the lot of young pharmacists. When I finished from the university, things were much easier for young pharmacy graduates. I’m pained to see what young pharmacists go through. They suffer to get internship placement. I will use every contact I have to ensure that internship placement becomes automatic.
“It is all about forward planning. We need to identify the number of internship centres we have in the country and also how many pharmacists we are producing per annum. If the internship opportunities are not adequate, how can we expand them? We can expand these opportunities both in government and in the private sector,” he said.
On local production of drugs, the PSN president said his administration would support local manufacturing of pharmaceuticals and active ingredients, which would lead to achieving medicines security, adding that the country would gain by boosting local production of pharmaceutical products.
He decried the reliance on the importation of pharmaceutical products. He said with more than 150 drug manufacturing plants, the country can achieve her national drug security aspiration if drugs are manufactured locally.
“We shall also look into how to improve the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry sector. I came from that sector and I know that in 1995, we were saying that 50 per cent of essential drugs should be made locally by 2000. Up till today, that is not our reality. In fact, we are going down. We are barely producing 25 to 30 per cent of our drug needs locally. I will work with the industry and the academia to tackle this challenge.
“It is not just that about 75 per cent of drugs needed by Nigerians are imported; even the quantum of local input into the drugs manufactured locally is low. We import virtually everything. We need to work with the industry and involve our researchers and academic pharmacists in the process to grow the industry. We can give them specific assignments that the industry can fund. I believe money can be raised to enable us to conduct problem-solving research. That way the academic pharmacists will have more work to do and will be better rewarded,” he said.
