By Doris Obinna
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has urged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), to ameliorate the naira design impasse while tasking it to come up with a specific position to guide the banks in view of the Supreme Court’s declaration on the naira design on Wednesday February 8, 2023.
According to them, this will go a long way in diffusing tension as well as restore credibility in the banking system at a time when most banks are no longer open to the public for day to day banking operations and transactions.
In a statement signed by the president, Prof. Cyril Usifoh, charged government agencies at all levels to be called to order and to desist from complicating the already chaotic situation. “In Kano State, the government is already threatening to revoke the C of O of banks that refuse to collect the old naira notes.
“All government hospitals should be compelled to initiate treatments especially in the accident and emergency units and in-patients department while acceptable payment modalities are being sorted.”
He reiterated that the unfortunate development had forced the PSN to once again call on the federal government and state governments to see a need to review the operational modalities of social health insurance in the country particularly to ensure that all endeavours are inclined on the path of lawful pillars in the plan of action.
“The PSN reiterates, for the umpteenth time, that the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) must conform to lawful payment mechanism and delineate facilities that qualify to be gatekeepers or primary providers which are eligible for capitation payments rather the indiscriminate capitation that is presently extended to secondary and tertiary facilities which remains a misnomer.
“The PSN in particular draws the attention of the NHIA secretariat to salient provisions of the PCN Act 2022 which forbids the dispensing, sales and stocking of drugs in premises not registered by the PCN.”
It also appealed that banks should be mandated to upgrade their IT infrastructure to leverage modern technology (cloud and 5G) which are available already in Nigeria.
“We wish to direct community pharmacies which are the first points to seek healthcare globally to work out ways to sustain services within the ambits of the existing payment framework. In instances where the last resort borders on collection of the old naira notes, we enjoin pharmacy practitioners to collect such since we are assured the Apex bank will accept the old notes and credit our account balances.
“The PSN assures consumers of health that pharmacists shall continue to stand with them as we continue to facilitate the manufacturing of essential drugs in the factories and making them available at accessible pharmacies at affordable prices in line with the tenets of the National Drug Policy.
“For a country where a substantial majority relies on subsistence living because they thrive and live on daily earnings as artisans, market men and women, okada riders, bus drivers and so on, it is only a matter of time that the country might reap the consequences of its negligence of the health of the citizenry.”