Pharmacists urge Tinubu to replicate practices that’ll improve health sector – New Telegraph

Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Lagos State branch, has appealed to the president-elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, to look back at his tenure as the former governor of Lagos State and replicate practices that worked then with a view to achieving maximum success in the health sector during his incoming administration as president of the country.

This was made known by the outgoing Chairman of Lagos PSN, Gbolagade Iyiola in an address he delivered at the 2023 Annual General Meeting of the PSN, Lagos State Branch last week. Iyiola after congratulating the president elect admitted that Tinubu during his tenure as the governor of Lagos State from 1999- 2007, had made great strides in improving the lot of pharmacists in Lagos State.

According to him, the foundation laying years of the current democracy spanned 1999 to 2007 where the Federal Government placed premium on the appointment of Health Administrators in key health portfolios including ministerial appointments which were ceded to Prof. A. B. C Nwosu from (2000 – 2003) and then Prof. Eyitayo Lambo, (2003-2007) a health economist who superintended over Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) from 2003-2007, were widely accepted as the most fruitful and impactful years in the health sector in contemporary times.

To this end, the Lagos PSN urged the president- elect to critically appraise the Charter of Demands the PSN submitted to him since November 2023, the highlights of which includes changing the approach and tactics in the appointment of ministers at the FMoH and the Chief Executive Officers of ministries departments and agencies (MDAs) in the health sector. Similarly, the association called for improvement on the welfare of public sector pharmacists and the generality of health workers to stem the tide of brain drain in the country.

In addition, the PSN called for an Executive Bill for a Bank of Health; the attainment of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the proper implementation of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) Act 2022. According to Iyiola, enabling local manufacturing of drugs, Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), excipients and related matters should be a priority for the incoming administration at the federal level. Furthermore, the Lagos PSN called for better funding of healthcare and the consideration of issues constraining natural development of pharmacy.

At its recent Colloquium held barely four weeks ago in Lagos, the PSN further charged the Federal and State Governments as enablers to enact laws that ensures appropriate partnership to commercialise inventions; treat potential drug security/shortages as national or existential risks; create tax credits for companies that sponsor Research and Development (R&D) in Universities, Institutes etc.; as well as provide funding options industry collaborations. Also, the pharmacists under the umbrella of Lagos PSN urged the presidentelect to mandate collaborations with relevant government MDAs like the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) and the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) to create Centres of Excellence to support Academia-Industry relations in the quest for production of high quality and globally acceptable APIs and other excipients. Iyiola said Tinubu should, “Compel through fundamental restructuring the necessary template that allows our universities to develop an entrepreneurial mind set and framework.

“Flowing from the above government must champion the establishment of technology transfer offices to facilitate collaboration and management of intellectual property rights, etc.” According to Iyiola, the PSN Lagos State finds it necessary to draw the attention of the president-elect to the vast potentials of the pharmaceutical sector to contribute significantly to the real sector and ultimately national GDP through development of a petrochemical industry that paves way for true industrial revolution that will reposition Nigeria as the hub for new pharmaceutical investments. “The PSN Lagos State will be the fulcrum to engineer a development that makes Lagos, the Centre of Excellence, the favourite destination in pharmaceuticals for Africa in the next few years if the president-elect chooses to accept our modest challenge.”