The Director General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Professor Mojisola Adeyeye, had said with so few medical doctors in Nigeria, the healthcare delivery service would have collapsed if not for community pharmacists advancing patient care and pharmacy services in their respective communities.
Professor Adeyeye, who spoke at the opening of the 43rd annual international conference of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), stated that with so few medical doctors in the country, community pharmacists step in every time to provide services in their respective communities.
She said that community pharmacies from studies are the third largest healthcare professional group in the world after physicians and nurses, and in Nigeria they are the first point of call for primary healthcare needs for a quarter and a half of the population.
The DG, who acknowledged community pharmacies pivotal role in every stage of the life cycle of medical products from early development to product launch, declared that the collaboration between the pharmacists and the regulatory agencies is essential for safeguarding public health and promoting the safe and effective use of medications.
According to her, “this continuous monitoring contributes significantly to maintaining the safety and effectiveness of medicines. Moreover, pharmacists are diligent in reporting adverse events and medication errors to the appropriate authorities. Again, we are trying to strengthen this.
“By serving as accessible healthcare providers, community pharmacists ensure that individuals receive the best care possible and guidance related to their medications, contributing to better healthcare outcomes.
“Hence, there’s need to build a robust collaboration between the nation’s regulatory agency and community pharmacists as an instrument for safeguarding public health by ensuring the availability of safe and effective medications, promoting regulatory compliance, and enhancing patient education and awareness.”
“This synergistic relationship is critical where regulatory oversight meets frontline healthcare delivery for the benefit of the nation.”
The keynote speaker at the scientific conference with the theme “Advancing Community Pharmacy Practice through Innovation and Collaboration,” Mr. Remi Adeseun, said that patient-centred holistic care, Nigeria’s low pharmacy-to-population ratio, and equity in health are drivers for innovation and the need for collaboration in community pharmacy practice.
According to Mr Adeseun, technology is a game changer for a more functional community pharmacy and improves access to medicines for our people, including clinical decision support, inventory management systems, online pharmacy, and payment solutions.
He stated also the need for better collaboration with others like doctors and patent-proprietary medicine vendors to improve access to quality medicines for Nigerians.
“There are functional delineations that can allow a PPMV to serve you dutifully, and you also impact on them professionally to improve the overall services rendered to the patient. So let’s think of that collaboration,” he added.
The National Chairman of ACPN, Mr Adewale Oladigbolu, said his tenure had as part of its achievements a pharmacare centre to reduce the burden of lack of pharmaceutical care in the underprivileged and underserved areas; PSN foundation task-sharing and task-shifting policy; and the Clean Healthcare Initiative with quality of medicines, quality of healthcare services, and drug distribution system as its main focus.
Mr Oladigbolu, however, asked that all schools of pharmacy in Nigeria be empowered with High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) for drug analysis and for them to escalate their findings to NAFDAC, where it fails the expected standard as part of measures to stem the peddling of fake medicines in the country.
Governor of Oyo State, Seyi Makinde, who spoke through his deputy, Barrister Bayo Lawal, however, challenged the pharmacists to forge partnerships, achieve best practices, and develop innovative solutions to address limited access to healthcare services, self-medication, the prevalence of counterfeiting and medication, limited resources and infrastructure, poor healthcare funding, and the high burden of chronic diseases, especially in rural areas.
The Central Planning Committee Chairman of the ACPN annual conference, Mrs Grace Ikani, said pharmacy professionals stand at a pivotal moment where innovation and collaboration can transform community pharmacy practice, thereby improving healthcare outcomes for Nigerians.
Highlights of the national conference included medical outreach in Oyo town, commissioning of a pharmacentre in Oyo town, a sports fiesta, and multi-class certified training sessions on vaccination, point-of-care testing, substance use disorder, and asthma care.
