PCN urges FG to recognise pharmacy consultants
The Registrar and Chief Executive Officer of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, Dr. Elijah Mohammed, urged the federal government to recognise pharmacy consultants so it will boost the services rendered to patients in the country.
Dr. Elijah Mohammed said, during a one-day sensitisation workshop organised by the Nigeria chapter of the West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists in collaboration with the PCN on the implementation of the pharmacist consultant cadre in the country.
The practice of pharmacy in Nigeria and West Africa has been product-focused but with growth in the pharmaceutical sciences before now, the new concept now in pharmaceutical care is patient-focused, in the sense of the impact of the drug on the patient.
“What we are trying to do is to redefine pharmacy practice to be patient-focused.
“If you are getting a drug and you are making it available to a patient you need to know what impact it is going to have on that patient.
“If this concept and doctrine are infiltrated into the mind of everyone, then the issue of fake drugs will not come up,” he said.
The goal of the Council was to redefine pharmacy practice to be specialised adding that generalisation of the practise was outdated.
“You have to specialise, and when you do, you now become a consultant and you will have information on specific areas.
“You must focus on the impact of the drug on the patient and that is why we are getting specialists in various areas to become consultants.
“The consultant status can let them know this is a specialist that can advise the patient and other health care providers on better service delivery,” Mohammed said.
The Chairman of the Governing Council of the PCN, Prof. Ahmed Mora, said the impact of the consultant cuts across public, private, and community practice.
The programme is to sensitise the public about the recently released circular by the Federal government recognising the pharmacist consultant cadre in the civil service.
It is to bring to the consciousness of the pharmacy fellows that should benefit from the consultant cadre, their roles responsibilities, and expectations from them, and to educate other pharmacists who may want to join and enroll in the college.
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