By Doris Obinna
Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has called on the federal government to entrust the regulation and control of professions to the appropriate professional bodies.
Speaking at the 96th Annual National Conference tagged City 2023, in Gombe State, President, PSN, Prof Cyril Usifoh, said, the focus is in line with three major contemporary issues.
He stated that the issues; of impending doom and collapse of the regulated drug supply chain, the drug revolving fund need for sustainable redress and infusing renewed energy into pharmacy education for impactful futures are concerns that need to be tackled.
According to him, it is a good thing to entrust the regulation and control of professions to the appropriate professional bodies as it ultimately places the destiny of these professions in the hands of those who practice them.
“For Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN), the mandate transcends regulating pharmacists and other workforce cadres to the regulation and control of pharmaceutical premises in both the public and private sectors, including facilities for manufacture, importation, export, distribution, wholesale, retail, hospital drug dispensing and sales, pharma component of veterinary practice and much more.
“The sensitivity of these endeavours listed, which are legally considered as Drug matters, is the fundamental reason most nations of the world find it imperative to bring drug use matters under central or federal control.”
Usifor further disclosed that as far back as 1988 the poorly regulated drug distribution channels according to World Health Organisation (WHO) studies generated an alarming 33 per cent fake drugs from open drug markets and Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors License (PPMVL) holders leading to a fatality rate of 7 per cent.
“A review exercise in 1998 put the incidence of fake drugs in our distribution channels at 49.6 per cent with a therapeutic failure of 10.8 per cent and 12.8 per cent mortality rate in Nigeria.
“It will, therefore, be unlawful and illegal for the Budget Office to stop allocations to the PCN in public interest.”
“Also, one of the salient fallouts of the old essential drug decree 43 of 1989 now the essential drug act cap 252 LFN in 2004 is the creation of the drug revolving fund (DRF) scheme was designed to deal with the challenges of the perennial out of stock syndrome or drugs in public health institutions. DRF manual was designed to achieve a successful scheme.
“DRF scheme was working very well from its inception until the different hospital management began to mutilate the original configuration of the DRF manual.”
He said: The PSN and Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU), in 2021, drew the attention of the Federal Ministry of Health to the problems of collapsing DRF schemes.
“This including the gargantuan distortion witnessed at National Orthopaedic Hospital (NOH) Igbobi and called for a probe of the NOHI affair as well as clamored for a special retreat to resuscitate DRF by bringing together the heads of departments, pharmacies and physicians/ CEOs of all the federal health institutions (FHIs).”
He further disclosed that the PSN at its AGM in Enugu approved the Doctor of Pharmacy, as the minimal registrable degree to practice pharmacy in Nigeria.
“It is a poor testimonial that many of our Universities have not commenced the implementation of the Doctor of Pharmacy program in Nigeria,” he stated.