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By Doris Obinna
The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has called on the Federal Government to rebalance the composition of the newly established National Task Force on Clinical Governance and Patient Safety to ensure a more inclusive, multidisciplinary framework that reflects the realities of modern healthcare delivery.
In a letter addressed to President Bola Tinubu, the society commended the Federal Government for setting up the task force, describing the initiative as timely and visionary in strengthening clinical quality improvement, patient safety, risk reduction, workforce performance and institutional accountability within Nigeria’s health system.
The letter, signed by PSN President Tanko Ibrahim, noted that recommendations from the society’s national conferences over the past five years had consistently emphasised the need to prioritise clinical governance and patient safety as a national agenda. The PSN therefore described the establishment of the task force as consistent with the Renewed Hope Agenda and the commitment to ensure that no patient is left behind.
Despite this commendation, the society expressed concern over what it described as the predominantly physician-based composition of the task force, noting that only one pharmacist and minimal representation from other key health professions were included. According to the PSN, such imbalance undermines team-based care and poses risks to credibility, trust, ownership, and effective collaboration across the health sector.
The PSN stressed that clinical governance and patient safety are inherently multidisciplinary, adding that international best practice and World Health Organisation (WHO) guidance emphasise the active involvement of pharmacists, nurses, midwives, laboratory scientists, health information managers, health administrators, and patient representatives. It warned that physician-dominated appointments encourage professional protectionism and could compromise patient safety, contrary to Nigeria’s National Health Policy.
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Highlighting the role of pharmacists, the society stated that medication safety, pharmacovigilance, antimicrobial stewardship, and nutrition management are central to effective clinical governance. It noted that in systems where pharmacists are fully integrated into care teams, medication errors are often detected and prevented before causing harm.
The society further criticised Nigeria’s physician-centric healthcare model, where prescribing and dispensing functions are collapsed into a single professional loop, describing it as a significant risk factor for patient safety. It urged the government to prioritise patient safety over professional turf disputes and to dismantle hierarchical structures that, in its view, serve professional egos rather than patient outcomes.
Drawing attention to healthcare access patterns, the PSN noted that community pharmacies serve as major first-contact points for many Nigerians. Citing the National Household Survey, it stated that 44 per cent of males and 49 per cent of females accessed healthcare through pharmacies in the preceding year, with the public making an estimated five visits to pharmacies compared to three visits to hospitals.
It concluded by recommending expanded pharmacy representation on the task force, including the PSN president, the director-general of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the chairmen of key pharmacy associations, as well as a technocrat-led leadership structure. It reiterated that a more inclusive and professionally balanced task force would strengthen safety culture, improve policy outcomes, and enhance patient safety nationwide.
