The President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mazi (Pharm.) Sam Ohuabunwa has charged members of the Young Pharmacists Group (YPG) Lagos chapter, to be good ambassadors of the profession, through their dedication to activities that will promote healthcare of the citizenry.

The PSN President made the remarks at the inaugural meeting of the YPG, Lagos chapter, where he reiterated his commitment to young pharmacists and highlighted the need for them to uphold the tenets of the profession wherever they may find themselves.

It was a week-long celebration filled with unquantifiable joy and happiness as the Pharmaceutical Association of Nigerian Students (PANS) of the Kaduna State University in conjunction with staff members of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, celebrated the attainment of full accreditation status of the faculty by the National Universities Commission (NUC) and an interim accreditation status by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN).

Prior to the accreditation exercise, a statement from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kaduna State University revealed that the faculty has got seven (7) sets of students with two sets (KASU/12/PHM and KASU/13/PHM) unable to commence the compulsory internship program due to the lack of PCN accreditation of the faculty. However, by virtue of the current success attained, the affected sets of students can now proceed to apply for internship placement after their Oath taking/Induction ceremony into the Pharmacy profession in no distant time from now.

Officials of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control and policemen escaped getting lynched during an enforcement exercise at the Head Bridge Drug Market in Onitsha, Anambra State.

NAFDAC said in a statement by its Director-General, Prof. Moji Adeyeye, that the combined team of officials and policemen had visited the market sequel to credible intelligence obtained from concerned members of the public.

The Association of Medical Laboratory Scientists of Nigeria (AMLSN) has raised an alarm over what it called “organized quackery in public health institutions,” particularly at the nation’s teaching hospitals and Federal Medical Centres, saying the practice is putting the health of Nigerians at grave danger through wrong “diagnoses.”

The association accused pathologists who it claimed, have abandoned their primary duties of attending to patients as physicians and now jostle as merchants of reagents, chemicals, diagnostics as well as performing medical laboratory testing which is outside their “integral training, licensure and scheme of service.”

Poised to continually rid the nation of illicit drugs, smuggled into the country by unscrupulous citizens, the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) in conjunction with the National Agency for Food, Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), on Thursday set ablaze about 58 containers of illegally imported tramadol and other illicit drugs worth N14.7 billion.

The Customs operatives had intercepted the smuggled drugs at various points in Lagos and other parts of the country, which warranted the need for the destruction of the hard drugs.

‘In its quest to engage and collaborate with other healthcare providers and patients with a focus on exploring avenues to improve treatment outcomes, the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), King Zone, comprising Ifako-Ijaiye, Iju, Agege, and its environs, recently organized its Annual Healthcare Stakeholders Forum 2019.

The 2019 Annual Healthcare Stakeholders Forum, themed: “Health, Wealth and Life – What is my role”, had in attendance eminent personalities and stakeholders in the profession, including Dr Obalolu Ojo, chairman, NAPharm Drug and Substance Abuse Committee; Pharm. Samuel Adekola, national chairman, Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), Dr Olushola Barnet Amure, chief medical director, Ifako-Ijaye General Hospital; Pharm. (Chief) Olaitan Sunday Ogunlade, zonal chairman, ACPN, King Zone; Pharm. (Mrs) Bolanle Adeniran, chairman, PSN, Lagos State chapter; Pharm. Olabanji Benedict Obideyi, chairman, ACPN, Lagos State chapter, among other participants.

At its plenary on Monday, the Lagos State House of Assembly asked its standing committee on health to probe into the immediate and remote causes of the challenges facing the state’s renal facility.

The move is coming two days after our publication on the moribund multi-billion naira cardiac and renal centre established by the state The probe, a response to the publication, was brought to the attention of the house by its acting chairman of the committee on health, Akeem Sokunle.

The Lagos State Cardiac and Renal Centre, Gbagada, a multi-billion naira health facility, is presumed to be one of the signature legacies of the administration of former governor Babatunde Fashola, neglected by his successor, Akinwunmi Ambode.

But unlike others, the abandonment of this facility has come with a huge cost, especially with the rising statistics of Lagosians, and indeed Nigerians, who are battling with various cardiac and renal diseases.

Eminent Nigerians and pharmacists among whom were Pharm. (Dr) Kingsley Chiedu Amibor national chairman, Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists of Nigeria (AHAPN); Pharm. (Prof.) Noel Wannang, secretary-general, West African Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP); Pharm. (Mazi) Sam Ohuabunwa, president, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) have urged hospital and administrative pharmacists in the country to embrace innovative disruptions not just to remain relevant in the scheme of things but to reposition hospital and administrative practice in the country.

The President of Rotary Club of Wuse Central, Abuja, Dr Mohammed Hassan, has described hepatitis disease as a silent killer in Nigeria and other African countries. He said this during an event organized by Rotary Club to mark the World Hepatitis Day in Abuja.

The event saw the club conducting free hepatitis B and C testing and also inaugurating a motorized borehole water scheme to Wumba community of Apo district in Abuja.