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Mr. Olumide Akintayo, immediate past president
pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), (left); Ahmed Ibrahim Yakasai,PSN
President; Dr. Okezie Victor Ikpeazu, Governor Abia State, during a courtesy
call to the Governor in Government House Umuahia for the 90th annual national
conference of the society, ‘Abia 2017’ on Monday.
By Chioma Umeha
Pharmacists under the auspices of Pharmaceutical
Society of Nigeria (PSN) have stressed the need for the country to achieve
self-sufficiency in pharmaceutical production. They noted that this will remove
Nigeria from the list of countries that have become dump sites for fake drugs.
Speaking for pharmacists was Ahmed Yakasai,
President of PSN who spoke at the society’s 90th annual week-long national
conference in Umuahia, Abia state which started Monday.
Yakasai said that PSN is at the vanguard of
ensuring that the country emerge self-sufficiency in medicine production so as
to contribute to the nation’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
According to the PSN boss, this informed the
society’s choice of the theme of the august event – “Medicines Availability and National Security.”
He said; “In a bid to continually contribute to
National Development we have adopted the choice theme “Medicines Availability
and National Security”.
“The reasons for this choice are obviously
germane, because the place of non-military elements of national security such
as “Health Security cannot be over-emphasised.”
Yakasai argued that a nation that does not strive
towards self-sufficiency in medicine production risks vulnerability to
“perishing at the altar of its enemies who just need to lace some of its fast
selling lines with poisons to inflict substantial mortality.
“In economic terms, a need also arises to grow GDP
of a nation through the nourishment of its pharmaceutical sector. This is why self-sufficiency in
pharmaceutical production remains the watch word for any forward looking
nation.”
According to him, the passion to achieve
self-sufficiency in medicine production also informed the choice of Dr. Andrew
S. Nevin, PhD, Partner-FS Advisory Leader and Chief Economist and Global
Leader – Project Blue, PwC, Nigeria as the Keynote speaker at the
conference opening ceremony.
Dr. Nevin is one of the leading PwC’s global
thinkers, working at the complex intersection of economics, strategy and
regulation with over 30 years professional experience, Yakasai said.
“He will be expected to critically evaluate
potentials of our sector in our quest to move to the next level in local
production of drugs. We sincerely
appreciate him for accepting this very important task. For greater effect there will be other
perspectives to the appraisal of the theme including those of an array of
regulators, a social enterprise and purely business analysis.”
The PSN President also pledged that the society
will properly position the over 150 pharma manufacturers of various sizes for
the target of increasing the size of the pharmaceutical market which is
presently worth meagre $1.3 billion dollars, accounting for less than 0.25 per
cent of National GDP.
Already, four of them have World Health
Organisation(WHO) prequalification.
He also said that PSN has contributed its quota to
the advancement of the healthcare profession in particular and the well-being
and happiness of Nigerians in general in the last one year.
The PSN boss gave a breakdown of some of the society’s
activities which includes: symposium on inter-professionalism among the health
care providers; launching of PSN Foundation; construction and unveiling of PSN
Monument at National Institute for Pharmaceutical Research and Development
(NIPRD) headquarters; establishment and commissioning of PSN Medicine
Information Centre, among others.
He also said that PSN will continue to champion
mentorship programmes for colleagues, particularly the young ones.
His words: “As part of our undiluted moral agenda we
have continued to support agitations for improved welfare conditions for our
members in the public sector.”
Earlier, Yakasai identified delayed and unlawful
appointments in regulatory agencies, poor composition structures in the health
sector, including lopsided appointments in Federal Health Institutions and poor
attitude to research and development as challenges facing the health sector.
Yakasai who said this while answering questions
from journalists, also said bemoaned poor
infrastructure, remuneration package among other things as part of the
problems plaguing the sector.
The PSN boss said: “Low wages and obsolete
equipment combine to make our health system largely unproductive. Universal
Health Coverage is almost impossible because of a deficiently administered
social health insurance agenda.”
About 5,000 pharmacists and scientists from
Nigeria and the Diaspora are attending the week-long largest annual gathering
of pharmacy professionals which started Monday.
Yakasai assured that the conference would address
the imperatives of medicine availability to national security.
“In this light, the Pharmaceutical Society of
Nigeria has been a strong advocate for local manufacturing of pharmaceuticals
and the need for government to create friendly environment for pharmaceutical
sector in Nigeria,” he said.
As part of the conference, the leadership of the
society weekend embarked on medical outreach at Ubakala Autonomous community in
the state.
The outreach with seven doctors, 20 nurses and 40
pharmacists included screening, consultation, counseling and drug dispensing.
