Intensify Regulatory Activities, Lagos ACPN Tasks PCN

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Holds 2019 AGM, re-elects officers

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria ACPN, Lagos State Chapter has called on the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), to step up her regulatory activities in ensuring that the practice environment is sanitized, as anything short of this would lead to massive non-registration of members with PCN by next year.

The Chairman of the association, Pharm. Olabanji Benedict Obideyi gave the stern warning during the association’s 2019 annual general meeting in Lagos recently.

According to him, the new tariffs of fifty percent increase across board which was recently rolled out by the Council was arbitrarily done without due consultation with parties involved, adding that PCN has not lived up to expectation in sanitizing the practice environment in line with promise made when similar exercise was undertaken in 2014.

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L-R: Pharm. Jonah Okotie, secretary, Pharm. Olabanji Benedict Obideyi, chairman; and Pharm. Charles Oyeniyi, assistant secretary at the AGM.
L-R: Pharm. Jonah Okotie, secretary, Pharm. Olabanji Benedict Obideyi, chairman; and Pharm. Charles Oyeniyi, assistant secretary at the AGM.

He added that the association would have directed its members to ignore the payment of the hiked fees, but dropped the idea due to the intervention of council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria.

“For us to have a sanitized practice environment, Pharmaceutical Inspection Committee (PIC) activities must be at its peak and for this to happen, both the logistics and personnel problems bewildering the PCN must be tackled. I am aware Lagos PSN has provided a vehicle to aid their activities, so that the challenge of not doing monitoring regularly would be solved. Therefore, we at ACPN are also considering doing something along this line too,” he said.

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Speaking on the Lagos State Health Service Insurance Scheme, which allegedly denied pharmacists and some healthcare providers in the State from participating as providers, Obideyi described the concept as being  good, saying it is aimed at making healthcare services affordable to all and sundry, but noted that its implementation is fraudulent.

A cross-section of dignitaries and participants at the AGM

“Like I have always said, the scheme was fashioned after the National Health Insurance Scheme, which is a failure, and this is also a failure too, but we are still very much open to dialogue if the government is ready and we are making some moves to meet the commissioner for health in that regard. For now, the resolution at our AGM still stands that no member shall participate as a provider until all the issues around these scheme are resolved”, he quipped.

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The highpoint of the programme was the re-election of executives of the association for another year. They include: Pharm. Olabanji Benedict Obideyi, chairman; Pharm. Lawrence Ekhator, vice-chairman; Pharm. Jonah Okotie, secretary; Pharm. Charles Oyeniyi, assistant secretary; Pharm. George Agbude, treasurer; Pharm. Obiageri Ethel Ikwu, financial secretary; Pharm. Mosunmola Dosunmu, public relations officer; and Pharm. Paul Owolabi, editor-in-chief.

 

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