With 15 years of service, Bola Adeniran, the
Chairman, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Lagos State Branch, is a
seasoned pharmacist who has served PSN in various capacities including, past
Vice Chairman, Secretary, Social Secretary, Unofficial Member of the Executive
Committee at the State level. In this
interview with CHIOMA UMEHA ahead of the March 14, 2019 Annual General Meeting
(AGM) of the branch, the Adeniran examines contemporary issues in the health
sector with particular reference to pharmacy. Excerpts:
The assent of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria
(PCN) Bill appears to be a dominant issue in your sector in recent times, why
is this bill so important?
Pharmacy is a unique profession compared to many
careers as it goes beyond service provision to being a commercial venture which
involves a special commodity, drugs.
Often, once you identify yourself as a pharmacist
in Nigeria, the most likely question that follows is, what are you people doing
about fake drugs? The modern day sobriquet as rationalised by WHO brands fake
drugs as falsified medicines. Whichever nomenclature you choose to call it, this
is an issue that constitutes huge public health menace to all consumers of
health.
There is also the dimension of drug abuse and
misuse which is seriously ravaging our youths, even women especially in
Northern Nigeria today.
Critical evaluation has confirmed that the
challenges of growing incidences of fake drug and drug abuse are due to extreme
poor management of the drug distribution channels.
This is exactly what the PCN Bill seeks to
redress. It is probably the most important piece of pharmacy legislation in
recent times.
For the records, there are many benefits to be
derived from a speedy assent of the PCN Bill by President Muhammadu Buhari.
First, the new Pharmacy Council Bill is consistent with pharmacy regulatory
laws in other Commonwealth Countries.
Second, the PCN Bill has provisions to improve
access to quality, effective and affordable medicines, which is a cardinal
responsibility of every government to her citizens. This is also the main goal
of the National Drug Policy, 2005.
Next, it makes explicit provisions on the
prohibition of sale of drugs in unauthorised places as provided for in the
National Drug Distribution Guidelines (NDDG). This will further strengthen the
fight against drug abuse.
Also, the Bill has addressed gaps inherent in the
current law which are being exploited to institute litigation against the
Minister of Health and PCN to restrain government from regulating illegal sales
of drug by unlicensed persons and premises.
Further, the bill stipulates stiffer penalties for
offenders to serve as deterrent.
It also strengthened professional discipline for
the pharmacists and is all-encompassing and had brought all players in the
pharmaceutical sector under proper regulation.
Conclusively, it will protect and promote public
health.
The monitoring and control procedures in the
regulation of pharmaceutical still appear inadequate given the huge number of
unlicensed premises. How do we redress this unwholesome development?
I am glad you appear to have a grasp of the
challenges. In Nigeria today, we have barely 6,000 registered pharmaceutical
premises in retail, distribution, importation and manufacturing cadres. In the
patent and proprietary medicines vendors licence (PPMVL) holders segment there
are probably less than 20,000 players.
As far back as 2002, the PSN, Lagos State Branch
had alerted the government over a million unlicensed pharma premises in the
erstwhile 20 Local Government Areas in Lagos State. This was a time Lagos had
just 800 licensed premises. So if the ratio in Nigeria’s Centre of Excellence
was 1:112 in favour of unlicensed premises 18 years ago, you can imagine the
dangerous implications. The situation poses many questions.
If the most cosmopolitan state had such
preponderance of unlawful premises, what will be the situation in the far North
territories which are not under more serious regulatory searchlight? What is
the number of registered premises in each state of the Federation? The last
time I checked Jigawa and Yobe states each had less than five premises
respectively.
In the face of these challenges, how do we
modulate the perennial problem of easy access to drugs in Nigeria? I must say
that the PCN continues to make some strides. Recently, the Office of Head of
Service of the Federation approved new manning levels for the inspectorate
department at PCN which is a major boost in the quest to ensure better
monitoring and control of pharmaceutical premises in Nigeria.
The Satellite Pharmacy concept entrenched in the
PCN Bill will consolidate and validate credible professional services by
registered pharmacists in very substantial as well as potentially impactful
number in Nigeria. For once the PCN would be able to function as a regulatory
agency with full complement of statutory powers to rescue the ailing drug
distribution channels.
Mr. President needs to help the health system by
responding to the will of the stakeholders in the pharmaceutical sector by
assenting to the PCN Bill which has the propensities to fast track a new cycle
of productivity in the totality of pharmacy practice as well as specifically
the monitoring and control procedures in pharmaceutical premises in Nigeria.
The health sector is becoming notorious for
disruptions and strikes detrimental to public health. What is the way out of
this mess?
Perhaps, I should start by congratulating
President Muhammadu Buhari on his re-election as President on behalf of our
teeming membership in Lagos State which accounts for over 45 per cent of the
total membership of pharmacists in Nigeria.
In his first tenure, Mr. President repeated the
dreadful error first committed by erstwhile President Goodluck Jonathan by
appointing the two Ministers in Charge of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH)
from one profession.
The Health Sector is a multi-disciplinary sector
comprising an array of high profile professionals. Other appointments in
Federal Health Institutions (FHIs), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS),
National Primary Healthcare Agency (NPHCA), National AIDS Control Agency (NACA)
and others are all unduly skewed in favour of the medical profession. The
tragedy inherent in the output of the incumbent leadership of the FMOH is too
grave to ignore. It is on record that it is the most insensitive, wicked and
despicable administration in the annals of FMOH.
The minister openly became spokesman of NMA,
violated the rights and denied other health workers their welfare packages
including salaries when on strike, despite court orders and valid Memorandum of
Understandings (MOUs) with the trade union in the Health Sector.
The liability created by the ministers in charge
of FMOH for this government was enormous, but for the goodwill enjoyed by
Buhari all would probably have been lost.
Can you imagine Prof. Adewole inaugurated the
Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (MDCN), but refused to do same with PCN,
Nursing and Midwifery Council of Nigeria and Medical Laboratory Science Council
of Nigeria? It was most shameful that the leadership of FMOH could not pretend
or disguise its obvious bias for a chosen and favoured profession.
The way forward therefore is for President Buhari
to right the wrongs in the health sector by appointing a seasoned administrator
in charge of the FMOH; otherwise, it would continue to be a volatile sector.
For the records, in the Obasanjo era, Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, a health economist,
was in charge of the FMOH for almost five of the eight years with remarkable
success.
President Buhari must support comprehensive
reforms which would liberalise all the myriad of health professions in line
with global best practices. This can be practically demonstrated through the
President’s support for Federal Medical Centres Bill which opens the space in
the Healthcare for the first time.
What is your take on Joint Health Sector Union
(JOHESU) agitations for adjustment of CONHESS salary scale?
Of course, it is a struggle grounded in fair play
and justice. You are aware of the MoUs in respect of CONHESS and the salient
conditionality that once you adjust any of the scale it becomes imperative to
do same with the other.
Today, apart from the antagonism of Adewole-led
FMOH, another medical doctor, Dr. Chris Ngige who ideally is the Chief
Conciliator on labour matters in Nigeria remains another stumbling block in the
quest for fulfillment in the JOHESU agitations.
Let me say with a deep conviction that after
following the recent national and zonal rallies of Health workers under the
auspices of JOHESU, I have no doubt that danger and uncertainty would continue
to loom over the health sector. The dark clouds that have gathered in our
sector can be dealt a decisive blow by President Buhari only through the
appointment of a sound manager of cognate experience in charge of the FMOH.
I have continued to evaluate the Secretariat of
PSN, Lagos State Branch, in terms of amenities and physical expansion compared
to what it was a few years ago. How did you manage it?
We must thank God for His provisions and mercies.
Our Exco has completed the second phase of the Secretariat which the Anthony
Oyawole leadership started in 2008. We bought a befitting bus last year which
cost us some modest tens of millions of Naira. We have also improved on our
I.T. gadgetry and boosted our power supply capacity with new generating sets.
Our progress is due to our very supportive
membership and, of course, our ever dependable Board of Trustees of the
branch. To His glory, we have a fully
functional Secretariat and in a few weeks, we should be able to dedicate a wing
of the facility to events management.
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