IN pursuant to its core mandate of establishment which is regulation of Patent Medicine Vendors (PMV), Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with National Association of Patent and Proprietary Medicine Dealers (NAPPMED) and its associate, Lagos State Medicine Dealers Association (LSMDA) in its bid to reposition the registry to enhance the outcome of its activities.  In the process leading to this partnership, several meetings were held by PCN with officials of these associations to address the fears and grievances of their members and identify ways of enhancing the licensing process and other regulatory roles of PCN.

The following were mutually understood and entered into by the parties at a follow-up meeting held late last year.  According to a release made available to The Guardian, it reads: “pursuant to the mandate of PCN, NAPPMED and its associate, LSMDA shall partner with PCN to carry out the regulation of Patent Medicine Vendors in Nigeria.  “PCN has agreed to liaise with other stakeholders and relevant government agencies with a view to reviewing, from time to time, the approved drug list for Patent Medicine vendors in line with the national drug policy.

A 44 -year-old alleged faked medical doctor, Martins Ogwu Okpe, an employee of the Federal Ministry of Health, Abuja, was yesterday arraigned before a Federal High Court in Abuja on a five-count charge of stealing a Bachelor of Medicine degree (MBBS) of the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaira, to secure and work as a Federal civil servant. The accused, who was put on trial by the Inspector General of Police, IGP Solomon Arase, was also alleged to have stolen another Bachelor of Surgery degree of the same university and the National Youth Service Corps certificate belonging to his childhood friend, Doctor Daniel Davidson George.

Okpe, a former chairman of the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in Abuja, who led the Federal Government delegation of medical experts to Liberia during the last Ebola epidemic in that country, was alleged to have impersonated the said George by adopting his full names parades as his own and using his three certificates to secure employment with the federal government. The accused was employed as a Senior Medical Officer in 2006 on Grade Level 12 with the federal ministry of health where he was alleged to have been drawing monthly salaries and allowances before the long arm of the law caught up with him.

National President/Chairman, JOHESU and Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, Comrade Biobelemoye Joy Josaiah  President Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Olumide Akintayo; Chairman, Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations (AHPA), Dr. Godswill C. Okara and Secretary General, Medical and Health Workers’ Union of Nigeria, Omokhuale I. Marcus at the Joint Health Sector Unions media briefing in Lagos... The workers who include all the professionals in the health sector besides doctors, yesterday, at a press briefing in Lagos, cautioned President Muhammadu Buhari that the proposed healthcare agenda and health sector restructuring document will not serve the best interest of Nigeria and therefore called for a truly broad-based platform of professional associations and unions in the health sector to come up with an impactful health agenda for the country.

The health workers said it is their hope that President Muhammadu Buhari will urgently redress the myriad of outstanding welfare issues of health professionals and workers in Nigeria in the same spirit in the days ahead. The health workers said while global emphasis is being laid on the promotion of preventive healthcare through immunisation and control of vaccine preventable diseases, Nigeria prefers to import all the vaccines for routine immunisation. in another development, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Branch has advocated for close partnership of both the Public and Private health sectors in Nigeria as a means to bringing quality and reliable healthcare to the accessibility of the people.

The Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) has strongly condemned the selection of the health reform committees set up under President Buhari’s Administration saying that members of the committees does not represent the large proportion of the health sectors.

Speaking on behalf of the association, The President Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm explained that the newly inaugurated 26-man Technical Review Committee (TRC) for the National Health Act and other related committees, has only members of one profession (medicine) dominating all. “The government must face the reality that in the context of the National Health Act 2014, the professional associations and trade unions in the health sector constitute major stakeholders”, he said.

The committee again questioned the healthcare agenda by the 6-man committee on the reform of the Federal Ministry of Health saying that their version of reforms in the healthcare is self-serving. According to Pharm. Akintayo, the 6-man committees are made up of group of entrepreneurs who are merely concerned about their interests. “The team has been canvassing the agenda of bringing foreign chain retail promoters in pharmacy practice into Nigeria for instance. 

The new drug, dubbed Spritam, was developed by Aprecia Pharmaceuticals to control seizures brought on by epilepsy. In a world first, the US Food and Drug Administration has given the go-ahead for a 3D-printed pill to be produced. The FDA has previously approved medical devices - including prosthetics - that have been 3D printed. The new drug, dubbed Spritam, was developed by Aprecia Pharmaceuticals to control seizures brought on by epilepsy. The company said that it planned to develop other medications using its 3D platform. Printing the drugs allows layers of medication to be packaged more tightly in precise dosages. A separate technology developed by the firm, known as ZipDose, makes high-dose medications easier to swallow. Printing the drug meant it could package up to 1,000 milligrams into individual tablets. The 3D-printed pill dissolves in the same manner as other oral medicines.

Replica jaws: Being able to 3D print a tablet offers the potential to create bespoke drugs based on the specific needs of patients, rather than having a one product fits all approach, according to experts. "For the last 50 years we have manufactured tablets in factories and shipped them to hospitals and for the first time this process means we can produce tablets much closer to the patient," said Dr Mohamed Albed Alhnan, a lecturer in pharmaceutics at the University of Central Lancashire. It would mean that medical institutions could adjust the dose for individual patients with just a simple tweak to the software before printing. Previously, such personalised medicine would have been extremely expensive to produce, said Dr Alhnan.

The Nigerian Dental and Medical Council of Nigeria has warned owners of private clinics to desist from employing the services of expatriates who were not duly certified by the council. Dr Okuokenye Henry, Head of the Inspectorate Department of the council, issued the warning in Gombe on Thursday when he inspected Madina Specialist Eye Centre and Diagnostic. He said the measure became necessary to prevent quack medical personnel from putting the lives of innocent Nigerian patients in danger. “Initially, when an expatriate comes to Nigeria to practice, he or she must meet some basic requirements. “If he is carrying another country’s certificate, he must attend four months course organised by our council and write an examination before he will be given a license to practice in Nigeria,’’ Henry explained.

He said this enabled the council to identify quacks in the profession, and such persons would be handed over to the law enforcement agencies.
“The council is empowered by law to regulate the practice of medicine by ensuring standard in the country,” he said. Henry said the council sent him from Abuja to Madina Hospital for an inspection because the council received petitions that an Ophthalmologist, Dr Najeeb Ur-Rahaman Abro, engaged by the hospital was not qualified. “The ophthalmologist, a Pakistani, did not have a license to practice in Nigeria but he went ahead and started practicing,’’ he said. The head of the inspectorate department, however, directed the proprietor of the hospital to dismiss the doctor or face the wrath of the law.

Chief Medical Director (CMD) Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido-Ekiti, Dr. Majekodunmi Ayodele, has appealed to striking resident doctors to consider the plights of the patients and return to work. Dr. Ayodele who made the appeal yesterday while speaking with journalists in Ado Ekiti said that the federal government was already looking into the demands of the members of Association of Resident Doctors (ARD). Recall that doctors in tertiary hospitals and their colleagues in all federal health institutions across the country had been on strike since May over non-implementation of ‘grade skipping’ by the institutions.

They had accused the chief medical directors of ignoring directive of the Federal Ministry of Health on the matter which Dr. Ayodele said was yet to be okayed by the federal government. The CMD disclosed further that the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission had explained that the modalities for the implementation have not been worked out, neither has the relevant scheme of service been amended, adding that attempt to implement the grade skipping for medical officers without modalities would create confusion and grading absurdities.

Dr Sunny Ekwunife, Senior Special Adviser to Gov. Willie Obiano of Anambra on General Hospitals, has said that three selected hospitals would be upgraded to a world class status in the state. Ekwunife disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Thursday in Awka. According to him, the benefiting hospitals are General Hospital Onitsha, General Hospital Enugwu-Ukwu and General Hospital Ekwulobia. “The governor gave us the mandate to take a look at the state hospitals and we chose three of them to be of international standard.

“The upgrading will go a long way in promoting medical tourism with the beneficial effect of generating more funds into the state coffers,” he said. Ekwunife said that government had also embarked on the uplift of other 15 selected hospitals to cater effectively for the needs of the citizens. “In order to address the excesses of private hospitals in Anambra, government has approved the equipment of 15 hospitals with drugs and staff. “We will be providing all their needs, which range from drilling of boreholes, rehabilitating buildings, providing drugs and increasing staff strength,” he said. (NAN)

Source:Leadership Online

Gov. Mohammed Abubakar of Bauchi State has approved the release of N87 million for the supply of essential drugs to all hospitals in the state.. Abubakar announced this on Thursday in Bauchi during a Mid-Year Review Meeting of Polio Routine Immunization, organized by the state government. According to him, the government has also released N80 million out of the N160 million counterpart fund contribution of the state for routine imminisation. He said the money was released after the government signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bill & Melinda Foundation and Dangote Foundation “towards strengthening immunization coverage in the state.”

The governor said that the new administration had sponsored 15 medical students abroad and facilitated accreditation of some courses run by health institutions in the state. Abubakar said that the government would soon unveil a five-point agenda in the health sector, tagged “Lafiya Garkuwa”. He pledged to undertake assessment visit of all health facilities in the state before unveiling the programme. “Healthy people are asset to the development of the state,” he said, adding that the administration would transform the health sector, to enhance the wellbeing of the pople.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), on Thursday said it had uncovered an illegal factory within the Trade Fair Complex in Lagos loaded with various expired canned food. The agency’s Spokesman, Mr Anslem Okonkwor, said disclosed this in a statement that the discovery was sequel to a special raid and enforcement operation in some markets in the metropolis by officers of the Investigation and Enforcement Directorate of the agency. It said that the expired canned food were worth millions of naira, adding that a 24-year-old man, Victor Okeke had been arrested in connection with the expired products.

“The factory, which was originally a one-room shop was used to stock, re-validate and distribute expired products, particularly, food condiments. “Some of the expired products discovered in the unhygienic factory included expired Maggi sauce with manufacturing date of 15/08/2011 and expiry date of 15/08/2014. “Other products included Amoy Dark Soy Sauce, Costa Corned Beef and Exeter Corned Beef among others. “For the Costa Corned Beef, whether expired or not, the 24-year -old suspect, changed their labels to Exeter Corned Beef,’’ it said.