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JOE EFFIONG, UYO
Akwa Ibom State branch of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has lamented that lack of proper leadership and governance remain the bane of development in most hospitals and the health sector at large resulting in sub- optimal health outcomes.
Rising from their week-long activities to mark the 2023 Pharmaceutical Week, which theme was: “Pharmacist Strengthening Health System”, the group said the week had provided professionals in the field ample opportunity to x-ray and profer solutions to some of the challenges facing the profession.
In their communique made available to Daily Sun, PSN decried the existence of a master- servant relationship in hospitals and the healthcare sector at large, where the leadership is ceded to only a certain category of health professionals.
According to them; “It is only a team work approach to healthcare delivery, where every health professional with requisite training in Hospital or Health administration can have opportunity to superintend over our Hospitals, that would drive optimal health outcomes.”
Pharmacists encouraged the Akwa Ibom state government to reap the low hanging opportunities offered by local manufacturing of pharmaceutical products to shore up the revenue base of the state and create employment ,by expanding and commercializing the drug manufacturing unit of the central medical stores.
While appealing to the governor to consider the appointment of a pharmacist as the senior Special assistant on pharmaceutical research and development to drive this agenda, they called for a paradigm shift in the health sector in Akwa Ibom state that would ensure adequate training and mentoring of young pharmacists through the institution of internship programs in our general hospitals.
The sssociation recommended the utilization of the unique skill sets of Pharmacists in Health financing and the involvement of community pharmacies in this drive towards universal health coverage in Akwa Ibom State.
They recalled that pharmacists showed their competency in indigenous manufacturing and import substitution through the manufacturing of hand sanitizers and patenting of herbal remedies during the COVID-19 pandemic and further encourages pharmacists in Akwa Ibom State to strengthen their competencies by embracing specialization and new models of innovation to ensure improved service delivery.
The communique highlighted; “We are deeply concerned that the Pharmacist per capita ratio in Nigeria is 1: 22,000 ( based on 220M population) as against the World Health Organisation recommendation of 1: 5000. To this end, we call for the employment of Pharmacists to fill the existing gaps in some government hospitals in Akwa Ibom State. This will ensure that healthcare consumers have the benefits of pharmaceutical care and guarantee of safety in drug therapy”.
The communique however expressed appreciation to and commended Governor Umo Eno for his efforts in revitalizing primary health centres in Akwa Ibom and the progress made in fulfilling his promise to deliver health insurance to Akwa Ibom people by setting up the Akwa Ibom Health Insurance Agency.
The events which herald the just concluded 2023 Akwa Ibom State Pharmacy week led by the state Chairman Pharm. Abasiama Uwatt include Thanksgiving service, fitness and health work, corporate social responsibility to commemorate the international day of the girl child by the Association of Lady Pharmacists, plenary session featuring group dynamics by the various technical groups, exhibitions by pharmaceutical companies and the launching of the historic 87.5m Pharmacy House project.
