The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has expressed fear on the rising number of pharmacists who are emigrating from Nigeria to seek a “better life abroad.”According to Ajibade, “out of less than 30,000 total population of practicing Pharmacists in Nigerian, over five thousand of them have gone outside the country.”
He highlighted also that “in the last couple of months, out of the few numbers of Pharmacists in University College Hospital (UCH) Ibadan, a lot of them have migrated to Canada. “Most of the young Pharmacists from Nigeria are all on their way to Canada, processing their Visas here and there.”
Ajibade complained that the major reason for their migration is because the enabling environment for pharmaceutical practice in Nigeria is challenging, considering that “Pharmacists in the country has such a low level of recognition”.
On the challenges of safe medicine in Nigeria, Ajibade insisted that “even though medicines are produced under the approved good manufacturing practice, conveyed through good distribution practice and stored appropriately, it does not guarantee the safety and effectiveness of medicines in the hands of the health consuming public.
“In a nation where the average populace spends heavily on out of pocket basis for their health needs, it is so sad that the required value is lost because many of them are often denied quality pharmaceutical care.
“A situation where our hospitals do not have pharmacists, especially the private hospitals, but are offering medicines to the patients, is a great disservice Nigeria is doing to the populace and a breach of their fundamental human right.”He spoke also on the importance of technology in delivering safe and effective medicines for all Nigerians.
“Imbibing technology in its various shades has a great advantage to multiply the capacity of pharmacists for reach a larger group of people, adding that with over 85 million Nigerians using smartphones, services of Pharmacists can obviously be sought if this is well exploited.”
Source: Guardian
