This year’s national conference also marks ACPNs 40th anniversary.
CPAN (Clinical Pharmacists Association of Nigeria) will be fully represented as it’s chairman Dr. Joseph Madu is a Community Pharmacist and many other CPAN members are also ACPN faithfull.

This year’s theme is ABUJA DECLARATION: EQUIPING PHARMACISTS FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH COVERAGE.

One if the high points of the conference is a session on Strategic Roadmaps for implementing Community Pharmacy Commitments to Primary Healthcare delivered by Prof Lere Baale of the Business School Netherlands (BSN).

The conference has also featured a Covid-19 vaccination training where Pharmacists were trained in vaccine administration and equiped with knowledge to keep them at the forefront of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

It is an election year as several Pharmacists justle for elective position via votes from delegates.

Pharm Bridget Aladi Otote FPSN an astute politician and experienced pharmacist who is contesting for the position of National Vice Chairman. She describes herself as a serial entrepreneur and award winner with businesses in pharmacy, fashion and banking sector.

Pharm Adewale Aderemi is another astute politician who wants to be the next ACPN national chairman. He wants to fill critical gaps in Community Pharmacy practice.

Pharm Adewal Oladigbolu is contesting for the position. He is a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) and former PSN chairman for Rivers state that has lead transformations in practice of Pharmacy in his home state.

Pharm Gbenga Olubowale is another experienced Pharmacist gunning for the position of ACPN national Chairman.

Here wishing delegates to the ACPN conference fruitfull delebrations in moving community Pharmacy practice into the 21st century.

Enjoy the conference photo gallery below.

The post ACPN NATIONAL CONERENCE AT THE GATEWAY first appeared on CPAN WORLD.

The use of the word “Prescription” is changing the world over and medicines or drugs are being reclassified from the simple ancient days ’classification of prescription only medicines and non-prescription medicines because of the ever-increasing needs for equitable access to medications and improved continuity of patient care.

Pharmacists play very important roles in the delivery of primary health care across the world.  In the wake of the dramatic devastation and unprecedented loss of human lives inflicted upon the world by the COVID-19 pandemic. During the lock-down period and the attendant restriction of access to public health centers orchestrated by the pandemic, community pharmacists courageously stepped in to meet the healthcare needs of Nigerians. Unfortunately during the pandemic Pharmacists faced a peculiar challenge of accessing certain prescription medicines indicated for some common conditions in primary care. This was at such a sensitive time the entire Nigerian population relied on the Community Pharmacists as the source of medicines for primary care. This underscores the need for speedy approval of the category of Pharmacist-Initiated-Medicines (PIMs) in medicines classification in Nigeria as obtainable in other climes. This is supported by the latest policy document of the International Pharmaceutical Federation/Community Pharmacists Sector FIP/CPS Vision 2020–2025. According to the NAFDAC DG at the last NAPHARM/NG virtual conference ”Pharmacists are the backbone of the Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system

Eight models for pharmacists’ prescribing have been implemented internationally varying in their dependency on protocols, formularies and collaborations with physicians, to be specific, the models include:

• NON-PROTOCOL: 1) Formulary Prescribing (2) Referral to Pharmacists (3) Independent Prescribing
• PROTOCOL: 1) Patient Group  Direction (2) Repeat Prescribing (3) Supplementary Prescribing (4) Protocol Prescribing (5) Collaborative Prescribing.

For instance, Dr. Samuel O. Adekola was certified to prescribe and administer Naxolone injectable for the management of Opioid over dosage since September2019 by the MARYLAND Department of Health USA. Indeed, practice of medicine in relation to health is changing across the globe and Nigeria needs to get ahead of it to the benefit of the ever growing population.

The National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) is the primary agency saddled with the responsibility of regulating the importation, exportation, manufacture, sales and utilization of medicines in Nigeria. One of such responsibilities is the classification of medicines used in the country.

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has enjoyed unfettered access, collaboration and supports from NAFDAC under the current leadership, with improvements in Internally Generated Revenue base and gadgetry in NAFDAC laboratories which both combine to improve service rendition in the Agency. But a previous effort to introduce the Pharmacist-Initiated-Medicines(PIMs) in Nigeria was not achieved due to non approval. For Pharmacists to effectively carry out the primary responsibility of providing primary healthcare services there is need for PIMs to be approved. This will enable Pharmacists to ethically explore their clinical judgment in recommending medicines within the PIM category to patients who need them.

Furthermore, the Federal Ministry of Health had enacted the Task Shifting Task Sharing Policy which implies that some primary care tasks should be shifted to other health care providers such as Pharmacists. So far, services such as Family planning have been successfully implemented. However, for other primary care services such as Medication Therapy Monitoring amongst others to be effectively implemented, Pharmacists must be authorized to recommend certain class of medicines. That way, the health care needs of the Nigerian populace would not be in jeopardy should there be acute lack of access to clinicians as was experienced in the heat of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pharmacists need to be properly re-positioned as Primary Healthcare Providers in Nigeria. This is to guarantee the achievement of universal health coverage. In many other countries across Europe and Americas, the capacities of community pharmacies have been maximally harnessed in the combat against Covid-19 pandemic. Pharmacists were involved in patient education, counseling, point-of-care testing, supply chain management of vaccines as well as administration of vaccines. This strategy tremendously helped in better handling the ravaging pandemic in these countries. Conversely, in Nigeria, Pharmacist were not adequately engaged in the entire response to the pandemic. This sad situation encouraged a number of vices in our Country, prominent among which are drug abuse and misuse.

To change this unenviable narrative, the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria birth a foundation known as the Transgenerational Pharmacies Development Foundation, TGPDF, having one of its strategic primary objectives of repositioning community pharmacists and working to integrate Pharmacists as primary health care providers as being promoted by World Health Organization, WHO in partnership with the International Pharmaceutical Federation FIP. The later was consummated in the ASTANA DECLARATION of 2018 that was equally conveyed in the ABUJA DECLARATION of  December 2020 signed by Community Pharmacists in Nigeria. Kindly referred to the 50-point communiqué endorsed during the 2020 ACPN National Scientific Conference. The vision of this noble initiative was contained in the 50-points communiqué endorse during the 2019 ACPN conference in Abuja. Given the need for Pharmacists to be highly clinically inclined in order to provide high quality primary healthcare services to the community they serve, the Transgenerational Pharmacies Development Foundation, deemed it necessary to build the capacities of both upcoming pharmacists as well as practicing pharmacists through the PharmD undergraduate and conversion programs respectively. The ACPN-Transgenerational Pharmacies Development Foundation under the leadership of Prof. Lere Baale are sedulously working on strategic project of achieving a primary healthcare driven community pharmacy practice in Nigeria.

It is hoped that these activities will set a momentum that will galvanize the overall interest of NAFDAC in expediting actions towards the actualization of a holistic primary care delivery in community pharmacies across Nigeria beginning with the approval/authorization of Pharmacist-Initiated-Medicines, PIM.

The post THE WORD “PRESCRIPTION” IS CHANGING THE WORLD OVER – Pharmacist Initiated Medicines (PIMs) first appeared on CPAN WORLD.

The pharmacists alleged that wranglings amongst profesional groups, interprofessional rivalry and greed amongst amongst professionals has continued to encourage the inequitable spread of privileges and resources of players in the sector to the detriment of consumers of health.

Quoting from a statement issued by the ACPN National Chairman, Dr. Samuel Adekola, and the National Secretary, Pharm. Ambrose Ezehthe Association advised: “We Must Save the Health System in Our Country Now” and  noted that consumers of health had been short-changed by the Government and providers.

The ACPN expressed concern that despite the fact that the goals and objectives of both the National Health Policy and National Drug Policy which focuses on accessibility, affordability, safe and efficacious health care services, and credible drug supply system these objective may never be achieved.

They pointed out that there is Identifying a ’glaring ineptitude’ in the health system, which is against the international best practice that hinges on the philosophy of meritocracy which allows for selection based on merit and competencies. They sighted the repeated observation where appointments as Federal Minister for Health , State Commisioners for Health anf Permanent Secretaries in the Health Ministries were reserved for only Physicians. This ugly scenario is also extended to all appointments into the MDAs at Federal and State levels with deleterious consequences on Public Health output in Nigeria.
They stressed the need to have appointments in Nigeria’s health sector liberalised to give room for meritocracy.

“It should interest observers that all appointments into prime MDAs in Health sector for instance; NHIS, NPHCDA, NACA, NCDC, Essential Drug List Committee and all special Health intervention programmes including National Malaria Control, Tuberculosis Control, Leprosy Control, etc are dominated by physicians in Nigeria, including heads of all public hospitals at both State and Federal level. whereas, at the international fora and other saner climes, positions of leadership are based purely on merit, skill, and competencies.

They lamented that the Decree 10 of 1985  reversed the gains of the fruitful headship of Health Administrators in Federal Health Institutions and replaced same with the headship of Physicians as Chief Medical Directors, Medical Directors, Chairman, Medical Advisory Committee, Head of Clinical Services and they are numerous deputies in all Health Institutions across the board at State and Federal Levels.

“The domination is extended to even appointments into the Boards of Management of the various Federal Health Institutions where about 8 out of 13 slots are permanently reserved for physicians at the detriment of consumers of health. “Today as it stands when these serial violations failed with the implementation of the Yayale Ahmed Report, the MDCAN has rushed to the Federal High Court, Abuja, seeking reliefs to bar the National Assembly from enacting Acts of Parliament to regulate the plethora of health professions in Nigeria, while also praying that the Office of the Head of Civil service of the federation is stopped from drawing up the schemes of service for all cadres of health workers.

The ACPN further listed unethical conducts in task grabbing, alleging a recent attempt by Physicians to annex the statutory and professional responsibilities of pharmacists to dispense medicines legitimately in the Health System.
Consewuently the ACPN called on other professional bodies to join forces with JOHESU, Civil Rights Societies, and other patriots to form a workable coalition force to save the health system.

They called on all health workers and their leadership to convey a roundtable to strategise on how best to tackle the lingering Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria, MDCAN, suit at the Federal High Court, Abuja as well as come up with an agenda for a robust healthcare delivery system in Nigeria in the best interest of the people.

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