Follow Us on Google
From Fred Ezeh, Abuja
Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has disclosed that no fewer than 25, 000 were sealed across the country for violating minimum operational guidelines as listed by the PCN.
PCN Registrar, Dr. Elijah Mohammed, who disclosed the information at the presentation of his scorecard which is part of activities to mark the end of his tenure in office, said the figure was part of successes achieved by PCN enforcement team in the last eight years of his tenure.
Dr. Elijah explained that the affected pharmacy premises were sealed for the offences ranging from poor documentation, poor hygienic environment, inappropriate behaviours and other related offences.
He explained that the action was not to witch-hunt anyone, but to ensure that maximum discipline is maintained in the profession, in addition to efforts of the PCN to promote quality and sanity among pharmacists.
He confirmed that PCN has strengthened its regulatory capacity with the aid of technology, thus asking pharmacists to strictly adhere to operational guidelines in order to avoid unnecessary sanctions from the regulatory body.
He also disclosed that plans are under way to increase the number of faculties of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences to 30 in order to provide more opportunities for people interested in the profession.
He said: “Before my tenure eight years ago, there was 17 faculties of pharmacy across schools in Nigeria. But seven was added to the number few years ago. There are pending request fo seven waiting for full accreditation. All together, it’s expected that we would have about 30 faculties of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences by the end of the year, 2022.
He appreciated the support he received from PCN management, staff and development partners that made work easier for him as well as several achievements recorded in PCN in the past eight years.
PCN Chairman, Prof. Tijjani Mora, in his remarks, described Dr. Mohammed as a valuable tool who has contributed greatly to the success recorded in the PCN.
He appealed to him to always make himself available post retirement, so that PCN management can leverage on his wealth of experience to continuously move the Council forward.
Managing Director, Society for Family Health (SFH), Dr. Omokhudu Idogho, said the long-standing relationship with PCN spanning 40 years was built on a common objective of ensuring health for all In pursuit of common goal.
He said that SFH has partnered with PCN on several game-changing programmes, the latest being the integratE project.
“Over the past five years, our partnership with PCN has worked to improve the contribution of private health sector providers especially Community Pharmacists (CP) and Patent Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) in the nation healthcare delivery system.
“Some key achievements of this partnership includes a GIS map of PPMVs and CPs in 11 implementing states, strengthened PCN’s capacity to effectively regulate CPs and PPMVs and digitalizing some of its regulatory functions.
“Others include delivery of high impact trainings on family planning and PHC services to private sector providers commencement of the Tiered Accreditation System, the Satelite Pharmacy Model and the PPMV Hub and Spoke Supervisory Model,” he said.
He said that one of the many things that Dr. Mohammed excelled as Registrar was his relationship with development partners, stating that the capacity building programmes initiated by these partners have been wonderful.
