In a show of solidarity, several personalities and pharmaceutical companies have showered encomiums on Pharmanews Limited for clinching the 2019 Healthcare Media (Print) of the Year award.
The award, organised under the aegis of the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Award (NHEA), saw Pharmanews, the 40-year-old health publication beat other publications like Punch, PharmaTimes and BusinessDay to win the laurel.
This feat brings to three the number of back-to-back NHEA awards won by Pharmanews in the last three years, thereby justifying its status as the leading global health journal.
Congratulating Pharmanews, Prof. Adetokunbo Fabamwo, chief medical director, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital (LASUTH) declared that a publication like Pharmanews that had spanned 40 years cannot be begrudged for picking up such an award multiple times.
Mahetalia Krunal Sureshbhai, plant head, Sagar Vitaceuticals equally declared that Pharmanews had done well by serving pharmaceutical industries and acquainting them with happenings in the pharmacy profession.
According to Dr Chimezie Anyakora, consultant and chief of party, United States Pharmacopoeia (USP), the NHEA award did not come as a shock adding that with what he had seen Pharmanews doing in the last 40 years, the award had been very much expected.
In his words, “It is not just a thing of pride alone to the company but to the profession in general. I also want to use this opportunity to thank the staff and management Pharmanews for all they do to promote health outcomes in Nigeria by projecting the great work done by all the stakeholders thereby encouraging them to do more. “The history of Nigerian pharma sector is incomplete without narrating the good work that Pharmanews has continually done.”
Pharm. Ade Popoola, managing director, Reals Pharmaceuticals Limited equally sent a goodwill message applauding the feat.
He stated, “We felicitate with the entire management and staff of Pharmanews being voted the Best Healthcare Media by the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Awards (NHEA) for a record third time. Congratulations, we are most privileged to be associated with you.”
Pharm. Folorunsho Alaran, regional business manager, Shalina Healthcare was also full of accolades, saying the management of his company was quite proud to associate with Pharmanews Limited and wishes it more successes in years to come.
Similarly, Jaiprakash Pande, operations manager, Africure Pharmaceuticals Limited, who described Pharmanews as a wonderful health journal which covers burning topics and helps health professionals to acquaint themselves with latest medicines and new researches.
“Even the online version of Pharmanews is excellent. Africure wishes best of luck to Pharmanews to continue serving Nigeria with quality healthcare information,” he said.
In his opinion, Adeshina Opanubi, project coordinator, Pharmalliance, remarked that he would have been surprised if Pharmanews hadn’t won the award.
“Pharmanews remains one of the strongest brands ever to have come out of the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry. In the last four years, many publications have come and gone but for 40 years and still counting, Pharmanews is not just alive, it is thriving. It is definitely not accidental. We celebrate God’s grace on the founder and his hardworking team,” he said.
The colourful occasion, which was hosted at Eko Hotel and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos on 21 June, had several doctors, hospital administrators, pharmacists, owners of health management organsations (HMOs), captains of industry and stakeholders in the health sector in attendance.
Reacting to the win, Sir Ifeanyi Atueyi, managing director of Pharmanews, said that he was delighted with the NHEA, which he said had carved out a niche for itself in the healthcare sector, adding that its performance had continued to improve every year.
“In 2015, this organisation selected me as the first pharmacist in the country to receive the most prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award. Although I have received more than 50 other awards, this particular one gave me the greatest joy because it embraces the entire healthcare sector.
“We are happy that in 2017 and 2018, Pharmanews won in the category of the Nigerian Healthcare Media Excellence Award – Print. This year, 2019, we have won it again. Indeed, this is a manifestation of God’s grace. The world has recognised our unique contribution in the healthcare space,” he enthused.
In the Lifetime Achievement category, the trio of Dr Stella Okoli, chairman, Emzor Group; Emeritus Prof. Oladapo Akinkugbe, University of Ibadan (UI) and Prof Eyitayo Lambo, former minister of health were respectively decorated; while Special Recognition Awards were conferred on Dr Muhammad Ali Pate, minister of state for health and Dr Aranmolate Ayobami, managing director of Grandville Medical.
In other categories, Pathcare Laboratories/Synlab, bagged the Private Laboratory Service Provider Award; Nigerian Health Watch (Healthcare Media Excellence Award – Online); Nurses on Air (Healthcare Media Excellence Award – Broadcast); HealthPlus Pharmacy (Pharmaceutical Retail Outlet); Lily Hospital (Private Healthcare Provider); Total Health Trust (HMO of the year); Clinix Healthcare (Radiology Service Provider); Alpha Pharmacy (Most Improved Pharmaceutical Outlet) and Eye Foundation Hospital (Eye Care Service Provider); May & Baker Nigeria Plc (Pharmaceutical Manufacturing Company); GroFin Nigeria(Outstanding Healthcare Project-Friendly Financial Institution); Access Bank Plc (Outstanding Healthcare SME-Friendly Financial Institution).
Other winners were Nasarawa State (Outstanding State Government Healthcare Programme); CarePay Nigeria Limited (Innovative Heathcare Service Provider of the Year); Solid Rock Hospital (Pharmaccess Safecare Outstanding Facility); Smile360 Dental Specialists (Dental Service Provider); Tolu Adeleke-Air (Tolu the midwife), Nursing & Midwifery Excellence Service Award; Renal Dialysis Centre (Dialysis Service Provider); Wellpath Physiotherapy, (Physiotherapy Service Provider); JNC International (Biomedical Engineering Service Company); Drugstock E-hub (Technology-Driven Distributor Company); DCL Laboratory Products (Laboratory Equipment Marketing Company); University College Hospital (UCH), (Tertiary Healthcare Provider); The Bridge Clinic (IVF Service Provider); and GE Healthcare, (Hospital Equipment Marketing Company).
Described as the “Oscar” of health sector, the Nigerian Healthcare Excellence Award (NHEA) is jointly supported by Global Health Project & Resources (GHPR) in collaboration with Anadach Group in the United States.
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