in line with the World Health Organisation’s seven-star concept of modern pharmacy practice, the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) has renewed its commitment to institutionalising the concept of Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) in the country.
The newly appointed registrar of the council, Pharm. N.A.E Mohammed, disclosed this at the annual general meeting of the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Group of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (PMG-MAN), held recently at the Indoor Hall, MAN House, Ikeja, Lagos.
The registrar, who was the guest of honour at the event and was represented by Pharm. Amaka Okafor, director of the Inspection and Monitoring unit of PCN, Lagos, further disclosed that in his quest to move pharmacy practice from where it is to an enviable position, he has prepared a four-point agenda, which will serve as his vision for the practice.
According to him, part of the agenda is repositioning of the registry for effective service delivery by inculcating a new mind-set and advancing new ideas, arguments and processes.
“We will aim to create a veritable platform for the merging of the private sector market culture concept of high focus on clients’ needs, productivity, clients’ satisfaction, competitiveness and result-oriented activities, with the clan culture of the public service sector that focuses on collaboration and teamwork,” he said.
Mohammed further disclosed that his repositioning agenda would involve creating IT-driven pharmacy regulation procedures, as well as partnering with stakeholders capable of speeding pharmaceutical practices and processes.
Such stakeholders, according to him, include the likes of pharmaceutical industries, academia, relevant ministries, the Nigeria Customs Service, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and selected international agencies.
“We will also encourage transformation of career professionals into intellectual practitioners,” he stated, “and this will come in the area of redesigning, restructuring and strengthening of the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MCPD) programme. In this regard, we are looking at e-learning as the driving force in the MCPD Programme”.
While unveiling the PCN’s vision for uplifting the pharmaceutical sector of the country, Pharm. Mohammed equally assured that the recently approved National Drug Distribution Guidelines, which would become operational by 30June, 2015, would be vigorously implemented through the Mega Drug Distribution Centres and the State Drug Distribution Centres, stressing that this would eliminate illegal operators in the industry and also lessen the problem of fake and counterfeit products, while ultimately ensuring increased capacity utilisation for local manufacturers.
“Also, we intend to collaborate in facility upgrade to enhance compliance with standards. This will involve reviewing our inspection checklist, especially the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP), to have a more robust impact on the industry, in line with international standards,” he said.
While commending the efforts of PMG-MAN in encouraging and facilitating the World Health Organisations Good Manufacturing Practice approval for some local industries, the registrar congratulated Swiss Pharma Nigeria Limited for emerging the first WHO-GMP compliant company in the country.
