For pharmacists to mantain their relevance in the nation’s healthcare delivery system, lady pharmacists must make themselves change nurturers, as they have key roles to play as natural nurturers in the home and society, CEO of Advantage Health Africa, Mrs Abimbola Adebakin, has said.
Adebakin, who was the keynote speaker at the 2017 ALPs Forum, held at the Igbobi National Orthopaedic Pavilion, Lagos, emphasised the need for women pharmacists to be abreast of developments in their field and around them, noting that this will help them to be better positioned in the healthcare sector.
She said: “As natural nurturers, we carry ideas for the males and help to stabilise the ideas. The change we are talking about didn’t come because we desire it, but the environment we are in is changing, and those we serve are being served by other sectors that have moved very quickly, and we can’t afford to be isolated and insulated.”
The Advantage Health Africa boss further urged the ALPians to brainstorm and innovate ways of impacting the society more meaningfully. She also gave them some teasers to quicken their reasoning on the change mantra.
“For instance, by December 2027, how would you see this profession? And what part of it, would you have contributed individually and as an association?” She asked.
While analysing the different roles to be played by lady pharmacists, she gave the illustration of the construction process of a ship, saying that there are those who work on the outside of the ship, then there are those in the engine room, and there are also those under the water that nobody can see. She urged that whatever part each individual pharmacists is playing, must be played conscientiously.
She added that considering the multiple and crucial positions of ALPians as mothers, wives, career women, healthcare professionals, and members of other groups, it may seem difficult for them to be very active in nurturing the needed change. She however noted that it all boils down to collaboration, because one woman cannot function as six women.
“Women are naturally created to multi-task, and imagine if all of us are to multi-task together, and as the Holy Writ puts it, when one falls, the other can lift her up. This depicts a situation where women in pharmacy are collaborating to promote change. The more we collaborate, the more the change will happen faster, and sustained. We must consciously look out for one another; we must consciously promote one another, without selfish interest”, Adebakin stressed.
The Planning Committee chairperson of the forum and thanksgiving programme, Pharm. Bunmi Laja, spoke on the theme of the event, which was “Your Health, Your Wealth”, noting that though women are natural caregivers, the importance of their health cannot be overemphasised.
Highlighting the different facets of health crucial to women’s wellbeing, she said: “We have physical health, mental health, spiritual health, and financial health. And you know women in general; we don’t take care for ourselves. We prefer to care for our immediate and extended family members, and then we care for ourselves last. This is why we decided to focus on ourselves this year.”
While sharing the opinion of the keynote speaker on the need for the lady pharmacists to plan for the future, Laja quickly observed that it is when a woman is healthy that she can plan.
The Lagos ALPs chairperson, Pharm. Modupe Alli, thanked all members of the association for their support throughout 2017, urging them to prepare for a better 2018.
