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By Henry Uche
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has called on the minister, Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH), to quickly rescue the Drug Revolving Fund (DRF) scheme in federal health institutions (FHIs).
In a statement signed by the president of PSN, Cyril O. Usifoh, the pharmacists expressed worry over the status quo, which has persisted at the FMoH after its last memo to the FMoH on the DRF scheme in FHIs.
The society urged the minister to immediately probe the mismanagement of the DRF at the National Orthopedic Hospital (NOH), Igbobi, Lagos, without compromise, to avoid invocation of other options outside the realm of the FMoH.
“We strongly call on the FMoH to summon the roundtable discussion on DRF, which will include the chief medical directors/managing directors and the heads of departments of pharmacy of all the FHIs as earlier promised by the FMoH.”
PSN maintained that the DRF was an integral part of Decree 43 of 1989, which gave birth to the concept of the use of essential drugs in public hospitals in Nigeria, noting that the law was entrenched in its statute books as Cap. 252, LFN 2004, in its most current form.
“We put on record that a preponderance of the CMDs and MDs have truncated the DRF scheme, albeit for pecuniary interests, in most of the 56 FHIs because the FMOH has been largely complicit in the modus operandi of this scheme, which is also largely reflected in the National Drug Policy 2005 document of the FMoH, World Health Organisation (WHO) and other partners.”
PSN added that a particularly tragic scenario was the obvious stinking state of affairs at the NOH, Igbobi, where the DRF scheme was the benchmark because it was the most successful nationwide.
“The DRF scheme at NOH, Igbobi, was so strong that the pharmacy department built a three-storey office complex worth hundreds of millions of naira from the proceeds of its DRF without the building cost affecting the fortunes of the DRF.
“Today, the DRF scheme at Igbobi is now in shambles as the MD of the hospital has manipulated the scheme to effectively handle procurement of drugs personally in the hospital. This led to petitions by the FMoH at different times until the FMoH directed a probe of the DRF at NOH, Igbobi, in August 2021.”
According to PSN, the probe of the DRF, which was yet to be effected, had only encouraged the MD of NOH, Igbobi, to accelerate to the next phase of the agenda to completely annihilate the DRF at NOI, by plotting to impose personal acolytes who could be subsumed to his whims and caprices to emerge as the director/HOD of the pharmacy department in the hospital.
“Our on-the-spot checks and routine surveillance suggest and confirm authoritatively that the MD, NOH, has taken over the procurement of drugs in the hospital contrary to NDP 2005 and extant pharmacy and drug laws.
“The inaction/action on the DRF scheme by the FMoH has also encouraged further perversion of different procurement models in the FHIs. Today, the CMDs and MDs are emboldened to scheme out HODs in pharmacy who do not submit to their absolute control and then go on to use their subordinates as well as other proxies to take over procurement of drugs in the FHIs all for their own pecuniary gains and interest.
“The situation in the pharmacy department in FHIs have become so difficult that pharmacists who work in these facilities can no longer justify the essence of their professionalism which is tragic,” PSN said.
