By Haruna Gimba
The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has urged government-owned health facilities across the country to start manufacturing drugs and some essential items needed by their institutions.
The registrar of the PCN, Dr. Elijah Mohammed, made the call in a presentation at the just concluded Media Week on COVID-19, organised by the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacists, in partnership with the Nigerian Guild of Editors.
He said the health institutions should reactivate small-scale drug manufacturing in their pharmacies and should go beyond stocking and dispensing of drugs.
According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasised the need for the nation’s public hospitals to have the capacity to manufacture some simple pharmaceutical products in-house and not be running around to procure them.
The PCN registrar, in the presentation said the scarcity of some simple pharmaceutical preparations that hospital pharmacies should be able to manufacture became very acute when COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, noting that many hospitals were running around for those products.
He said: The PCN had to raise a memo for the reactivation of small-scale manufacturing in our hospitals in that period and it was approved by the minister of health.
“The reason was that it became embarrassing that some hospitals were running around for ordinary sanitiser. This is wrong, as even Year II pharmacy students are taught how to produce sanitiser. This brought to the fore the negligence in the pharmacies of our hospitals.
“We call on our hospitals to reactivate the small-scale manufacturing processes in hospital pharmacies. If the pharmacies are functioning properly, the availability of some items will not be a challenge to anyone.
Mohammed also urged the National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA) to ensure that pharmacists play greater role at the primary healthcare, noting that while there is yet to be a policy to support his call, many pharmacists are already making invaluable contributions in primary care services in communities across the country.
“Pharmacists and pharmacies are usually the first points of contact for an average Nigerian when it comes to healthcare services, particularly in the rural areas. Pharmacists can also help with the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination exercise.
“So, the NPHCDA should see the need for pharmacists to be there to play a role,” he added.
