Pharmacists task incoming government on appointments of ministers, brain drain

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Pharmacists task incoming government on appointments of ministers, brain drain

The pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, Lagos State Branch has charged the incoming government to evaluate the demands of pharmacists and review the usual approach in the appointment of ministers and Chief Executives in the health sector.

They also urged the incoming government to tackle the problem of brain drain by improving the welfare of public sector pharmacists and other health workers.

Setting the agenda for the incoming government in a press statement signed by the Chairman of Lagos PSN, Gbolagade Iyiola, they also called for proper implementation of the National Health Insurance Authority, Act 2022 as well as enabling Local manufacturing of drugs and active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), excipients and related matters.

The statement further reads: ”Pharmacists in Lagos state remember his interventions while he was helmsman in his first tenure as governor between 1999 and 2003. In 2002, the Lagos state ministry of health had come up with a policy to privatise public sector pharmacies in all its hospitals canvassing a position that there will be no active need for pharmacy practice in the public service in Lagos state.

“Opinion leaders in pharmacy had to draw the attention of then-governor Bola Tinubu to this heresy before a truce could be reached between the Lagos state government, PSN and PCN in that dispensation.

“It becomes imperative in this new order that confronts the nation that the foundation laying years of our current democracy where the federal government placed a premium on the appointment of health administrators in key health portfolios including; ministerial appointments which were ceded to Prof. A. B. C Nwosu and then Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, a health economist who superintended over the federal ministry of health were widely accepted as the most fruitful and impactful years in the health sector in contemporary times’’.

“PSN contribute significantly to the real sector and ultimately National GDP through the development of a petrochemical industry that paves way for a true industrial revolution that will reposition Nigeria as the hub for new Pharmaceutical investments.

“The PSN Lagos state will be the fulcrum to engineer a development that makes Lagos, the centre of excellence, the favourite destination in pharmaceuticals for Africa in the next few years if the President-elect chooses to accept our modest challenge.

“We firmly insisted on better regulatory techniques as we strategised to work with PCN and other strategic regulators. The voice of the PSN Lagos state branch rang out loud for the enactment of the pharmacy council of Nigeria Act 2022. I salute the leadership of PSN Lagos state and our members for the sustained advocacy towards seeing this to fruition.

“Our efforts to champion a sanitised practice environment in Lagos state and rid it of itinerant illegal drug dealers suffered a terrible setback midway in 2021. This was because of the unexpected starving of PIC of funds needed for operations coupled with ridiculous judgment and injunctions against PCN and Lagos state taskforce on fake and counterfeit drugs respectively.

“With divine enablement and the new government set to be inaugurated by May 29, 2023, we remain optimistic and hopeful that a new agenda will be set by PCN for regular monitoring and enforcement operations towards installing a practising landscape that befits our practice.”