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As AHAPN Marks Scientific Day
Members of the Association of Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists of Nigeria (AHAPN) have been tasked on the creation of more compounding units in hospitals and other health institutions, as a means of bridging the gaps in medicines availability and boosting local drugs manufacturing.
Pharm. (Dr) ) Titilayo Onedo, assistant director of Pharmacy, National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, and Coordinator, AHAPN Day of the Lagos State PSN Scientific Week 2022, gave the charge to her colleagues during the programme, held Tuesday, at the Lagos PSN Secretariat, Ogudu, Lagos.
The AHAPN Day was themed: “Innovative approach towards ensuring Medicine Security: the place of local production of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients in Nigeria.”
In her opening remarks, Onedo explained the essence of the programme, which was to sensitise hospital pharmacists on their responsibilities and mobilise them to rise to their professional expectations in order to remain relevant in the scheme of things.
She said It is believe that pharmacists have the capacity to produce APIs (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) which will go along way in catering for our local needs in case of another pandemic.
“I believe pharmacists are making their impacts felt now by going beyond what we used to do in the past. Listening to the robust discussion generated at this event, it is indeed a very good job.
“Every pharmacy must as a matter of urgency start having compounding units which will actually distinguish us from the others”, she quipped.
She further mentioned that pharmacists can actually make local drugs for our own local consumption and become self-sufficient, which can eventually lead to exportation in the long-run. She stressed the need for pharmacists to start tapping into the opportunities that are available.
Speaking with Pharmanews in an exclusive interview during the programme, Chairman, Lagos AHAPN , Pharm. (Dr) Dupe Oyawole, said the event is meant to bring pharmacists together to practically showcase what they do.
“So, what we hope to achieve is to make more hospitals and institutions to start doing compounding, because some don’t and that’s one of the reasons why we brought in experts to talk to us in form of practical demonstrations.
“In a nutshell, we intend to use this event to inspire more hospitals and institutions to be doing more of this, to ensure medicines security in for our patients, especially patients that need formulations that we can’t readily get. This helps us play our role more in the hospital setting” she said.
The chairman further used the opportunity to beckon on government to give more recognition to pharmacists in all sectors (most especially in the hospital setting) and treat them as group of professionals that are unique and special in terms of drug production.
In her presentation, Pharm. (Mrs) Oyinlade Kehinde, assistant director of Pharmacy, Child and Adolescents Unit, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Yaba, Lagos, sensitized the pharmacists on the abuse and misuse of prescribed medications by patients.
She described the abuse and misuse of “Prescription Only Medicines” also known as P.O.M as a growing problem outpouring. Firstly, because these drugs are only prescribed legally for medical conditions and secondly because they’re generally accessible and available compared to the illicit drugs.
“We do not know the magnitude of the problem today, because of lack of data for the abuse and misuse of these medications, even globally. Also, the existence of many gaps in monitoring these medications from the manufacturers to the end users is also a big issue.
“Opportunities and the huge demand for these medications can lead to diversion and counterfeiting. This can actually affect those that need it for their conditions” she said.
In what she feels would be the solution to this, she said “Pharmacists need to go for continuous trainings in order to detect patients that have been misusing drugs, how to prevent and manage it. They should screen patients when there are signs of abuse and misuse of drugs.
“Commitment to anti-microbial stewardship is another way in which abuse can be curbed. As pharmacists, it is our duty to educate patients about safeguarding their medications because it is not meant to be shared. We should also identify patients with repeated loss of medicated descriptions.
“We should also make it a habit of collecting data for research purposes and future prevention methods and policies.”
The high point of the event was the practical demonstrations of drug compounding by different pharmacists from different hospitals in the state.
The first demonstration was on compounding methysalicylate ointment by National Orthopaedic Hospital, Igbobi, pharmacists, while pharmacists from LASUTH, demonstrated the production of alcoholics solution of Iodine chloroxylemol solution, and the third demonstration was the presentation of single syrup B.P sweetner by LUTH pharmacists.
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