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| L-R: Prince Julius Adewale, Nigerian Pharmacist and legal practitioner; Pharm Ahmed Yakasai, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN); Chairman, Pharm Lekan Asuni, Nigeria Pharmaceutical Industry IT, Platform Project; Pharm. Olumide Akintayo, Past president of PSN, during the launching of the Pharm iT NDDG online Platform, and PSNPay, Online Capitation Payment platform and unveiling of PSN Vision 2050 Strategy document held at Sheraton hotels, Ikeja, Lagos on Tuesday. |
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| R-L Pharm. Tosin Adeyemi, National Editor in Chief, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN); Dr. Arinola Joda, Publicity Secretary, PSN; Rosemary Nikoro, Secretary, Board of Fellows, PSN; Pharm Ahmed Yakasai, President; Pharm. Bolanle F. O. Adeniran, Chairman, PSN Lagos State and others, during a press conference on the forthcoming 91st annual national conference of PSN scheduled to hold from October 29 to November 3, at lbadan Oyo state, held in Lagos, weekend. |
•Launches Premier Pharma Industry IT Platform,
Digitalised System Of Payment •It Would Be Largest Drugs Supply Chain System In
Africa - Pharm. Asuni
Chioma Umeha
It was Publius Ovidius Naso, the ancient Roman
poet, celebrated as Ovid in the English-speaking world who said, “Medicine
sometimes snatches away health, sometimes gives it.”
Corroborating this old saying, the recent report
of World Health Organisation (WHO) said; “More than half of all medicines are
prescribed, dispensed or sold inappropriately, and that half of all patients
fail to take them correctly.
“The overuse, underuse or misuse of medicines
results in wastage of scarce resources and widespread health hazards,” the
world health body added.
Irrational use of medicines is a major problem
worldwide. And acting in sync with the WHO’s findings, the Federal Government
released a New Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG) in 2012.
However, there are concerns among experts over the
Federal Government’s delay in implementing the National Drug Policy, more so as
they believe it will promote local drug production and reduce dependence on
imported medicines.
In view of these, the Pharmaceutical Society of
Nigeria (PSN) has launched a pharmaceutical information technology (IT)
platform.
According to PSN, the online platform will improve
drug distribution channel and ensure safety of medicines in compliance with
NDDG.
Known as Pharma IT NDDC Platform, it was launched
in Lagos Tuesday, alongside the PSN Pay, a digitalised system of payment and
collection of PSN annual capitation and other technical and interest groups of
the society’s dues both in states and national.
Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai, PSN President had earlier
announced the launch at a press briefing in Lagos on the forthcoming 91st
annual national conference of the society, saying, the online platform would
improve the distribution channel and enhance the safety and efficacy of
medicines.
Yakasai explained that the new IT platform would
act as a regulator in the distribution and use of medicines among manufacturers
and consumers, thereby improving the distribution channel and enhancing the
safety and efficacy of medicines.
Yakasai said; “Pharmit is a pharma industry IT
solution facilitated by PSN under our leadership to compliment implementation
of the National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG).
“Also, it will serve as a central repository and
interface for exchange of information for the practitioners and practice, as
well as, provide visibility to the Regulators (PCN, NAFDAC, etc) for control
and fight against fake, substandard and falsified products, all around the real
time dynamics of premises, products and practitioners involved in the
distribution of medicines in Nigeria.
“The world is currently witnessing information
communication technology (ICT) revolution and our industry should not miss the
train.”
According to the PSN boss, the platform is open to
all pharmacists and pharmaceutical outlets in the health-delivery value chain
of the country.
“The platform will contribute immensely in the
fight against fake, substandard and falsified drugs in the country because
every batch of medicine in the country can be traced. The Pharma IT NDDG
Platform and PSN pay are powered by Chams Plc.”
Concerning the PSN Pay, Yakasai said the existing
collection process is manual, rigorous and prone to error which needs to be
overhauled and digitalised, noting that this was part of his campaign promises.
However, the President explained that the new
digital mode of payment would improve on the operation of PSN in collection of
dues by its members and also reduce the stress of capitation payment by
pharmacists.
He said; “Psnpay is going to digitalise the
payment and collection of PSN annual capitation and other technical and
interest groups of PSN dues for both states and national as powered by
Chamsswitch.
“The existing collection process is manual,
rigorous and prone to error which needs to be overhauled and digitalised as
promised during my campaign.
“PSNpay is an end-to-end automated payment/
collection platform that will ultimately improve operational efficiency of PSN
and its technical and interest groups.
“PSN pay will improve on the current manual
process of collections made by PSN members and reduce the stress of capitation
payment by pharmacists.
“It will enhance transparency and accountability.
It will avoid reconciliation issues; enhance reporting system and also improve
operational efficiency,” he noted.
Yakasai, further appealed to the government as a
matter of urgency to take critical action to implement the National Drug Policy
in order to promote local drug production and reduce dependence on imported
medicines.
Yakasai said the implementation of the National
Drug Policy, which would eliminate the present chaotic drug distribution system
in the country, was key to ending Nigeria being made a dumping ground for all
sorts of unwholesome and substandard imported drugs.
Concerning drug tracking and recall, he said being
able to track drugs within the system, was necessary because of situations when
medicines in circulation would be recalled to safeguard the health of the
consuming public.
The PSN President urged Nigerians to be on the
alert against any contaminated drugs imported into country from China.
On the forthcoming 91st annual national conference
of the society, the PSN President stated that its theme is; “Innovative
Disruption in Pharmacy in Emerging Economies: A Roadmap for Nigeria,” was
carefully chosen to advance the national discourse on survival and significance
in a time of fast and tempestuous transformation.
The PSN boss revealed that the conference which
would hold from October 29 – November 3, 2018 in Oyo State, will witness the
attendance of not less than 5,000 pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists
nationwide as well as those in diaspora.
He also said that it would be a forum to exploit
avenues to improve contributions from the pharmaceutical sector to the nation’s
economy.
Yakasai said, “The theme has been carefully chosen
to advance the national discourse on survival and significance in a time of
rapid and turbulent change.”
According to the president of the PSN, “Whether
you are disruptively innovating or defending against disruptive challenger, we
must do things differently to move from good to great as a profession and as a
country,” adding, “We must develop new model that would replace the old model.”
While the conference would be declared open by Dr.
Bukola Saraki, the Senate President, as a special guest of honour, Abiola
Ajimobi, the Oyo State Governor would be the chief host.
Pharm. Clare Omatseye, the President of Healthcare
Federation of Nigeria (HFN) and Chief Executive Officer/ Managing Director of
JNC international Limited is expected to be the keynote speaker.
Similarly, the Olubadan, Oba Saliu Akanmu Adetunji
would be the royal father at the opening ceremony.
“We would also have our election during our annual
general meeting (AGM) to vote in new leadership,” Yakasai added.
In all, a week-long activity have been planned to
hold during the annual conference.
The health walk to be led by the wife of the Oyo
State Governor, Mrs. Florence Ajimobi is tagged “Pharmacists Against Drug
Abuse” would hold on Monday, October 29 after the arrival and registration of
delegates.
Furthermore, he said there would be a Health
Outreach at the Palace of the Olubadan in Idiarere.
According to the president of the PSN, “Nigerians
should expect a positive force of disruption to emerge pharmaceutically after
November 3.
Commenting, Pharm. Lekan Asuni, observed that the
pharma industry will benefit greatly from IT solutions that ensure the right
drugs are sold by the right practitioners at the right premises in view of the
menace of drugs abuse and recurrent cases of counterfeit and unregistered
drugs.
Pharm Asuni who is the Nigeria Pharma Industry IT
Platform Project Chairman, explained that the project aims to be the largest
drugs supply chain system in Africa.
He said, the major objective is to have a
comprehensive IT driven industry from the source, local/import, to the consumer
of medicines in the country.
According to him, the IT Platform will “Enable
track and trace of medicine in the supply chain; Harness the information and
interaction of registered practitioners and products on a single platform.
“It will also, create access for the consumer of
health for information on products and their feedback; generate data for
industrial use, among other things.
“Pharm IT establishes trusted and secure drugs
supply chain guaranteeing that only registered products are distributed among
practitioners in premises across the country.”
