Pharmacists Urge Health Minister To Renew MoU On Immunisation

Pharmacists under the aegis of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) have decried the failure of the Federal Ministry of Health to renew the memorandum of understanding (MoU) it signed with the body on immunisation and family planning programmes.

ACPN said the action was not in good faith and in the best interest of the country.

In a letter to the coordinating minister for health and social welfare, Prof. Ali Pate and Federal Ministry of Health, ACPN national chairman, Adewale Oladigbolu, said community pharmacists have been in the “forefront of strengthening Nigeria’s faltering and sinking health system, given the legal approbation that pharmacies are designated as health facilities within the framework of National Health Act 2014 and deserved recognition for the proven competence to effectively provide the essential services.’’

Oladigbolu said ACPN demands that the Federal Ministry of Health (FMoH) sign the MoU so that the country would maximise the benefits of the level of training community pharmacists have endured for the tasks.

He posited that the association’s call aligned with the Pharmacists’ Consultative Forum agenda recently inaugurated by Prof Pate to fix the unwholesome situation with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA).

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) is a technical group of the PSN which specialises in providing health services through neighbourhood pharmacy facilities. It is also a member of the International Federation of Pharmacists which is the global template of all pharmacists.

He reiterated the proven capacity of community pharmacists to manage critical health programmes, including emergencies such as COVID-19 pandemic.

Oladigbolu said, “At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the immediate past leadership hierarchy of the NPHCDA partnered with the ACPN by authorising the community pharmacies to administer COVID-19 vaccines in their facilities in 2021. The two-year MoU for this working agreement lapsed in December 2023. Community pharmacies within the duration of two years the MoU 2021 lasted vaccinated over 76,000 patients and clients in just 253 Community Pharmacies.”

While expressing his displeasure at the refusal of the FMoH to continue with the agreement, the ACPN boss said it was expected that the outstanding performance of the community while the programmes lasted would have been continued for the benefit of Nigeria’s healthcare delivery.

“We would have assumed this landmark development should speak for the capacity and competence of Community Pharmacies until the incumbent management decided it was not going to renew the MOU because the CEO is a “politician” whatever that really means.

“We have watched and appraised your methodology since taking-over at the FMOH. The overriding perception the two Ministers and the Permanent Secretary at the FMOH continue to give is that President Tinubu has mandated them to expand the service potentials of all key health personnel as well as promote collaborations between the respective players,’’ he said.

Oladigbolu claimed that the situation is encouraged by the uncooperative approach of management of NPHCDA and National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) to the issue.

“It is important to put on record that the management of NPHCDA and NHIA appear not to be on the same page as the Hon. Minister in his vision to promote collaborations because they have maintained an unfortunate bias and poor management techniques laced in extremely bad faith.’’

“This memo, which is central to happenings at NPHCDA, gives the major reason why our Health System is still rated amongst the weakest ten in the world, such that Sudan, a war- ravaged clime, is even ahead of Nigeria.”

He said, “Hon Minister, it is apparent that appendages of the FMoH still catalyse medical elitism despite the tenets of the National Health Strategic Development Plan.’’

ACPN said, “What still prevails in the health system the Hon. Minister coordinates is a situation where everything including resources and privileges is appropriated to the constituency of Physicians,” adding that the physician tribe sits on top of a rudderless ladder where there is no interconnectivity or relationship with key health professionals in the value chain of healthcare.

To buttress ACPN, he listed the six major pillars in which the country’s national health revolves, including safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, timeliness, efficiency, and equity.

He explained that safety in this contest focuses on facility design and, ultimately, patient safety. “An agency of the FMOH, the PCN regulates and controls Pharmacy Practice and logically prescribes the benchmark of the designs approvable. As far as drug use and dispensing are concerned, the Pharmacist is in the best position to guarantee patient safety because of his training. This is about global best practice.”

Effectiveness, he explained, is grounded on the quality of the service provider (Pharmacist). The provider should vouch for the quality of the medicines. A Pharmacist who is an acclaimed drug expert is always in the best position to guarantee the quality of drugs and vaccines.

ACPN argued that if ‘’over 60 percent of Primary Healthcare is not structured to embrace patient-centeredness. Community Pharmacies must be made integral to the sustenance of PHC endeavours.

“If 253 Pharmacy facilities rolled out over 76,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the below-peak season from December 2021 to December 2023, one is left to imagine what the network and pooling together of about 10,000 Community Pharmacies and Satellite Pharmacies will achieve with full immunisation coverage annually to boost Nigeria’s ailing Health System.”

On timeliness, Oladigbolu explained that less waiting time is key for patients and those who give care. “The professional centres are obtainable in Pharmacy facilities and have appropriate health service designs, while efficiency means that a system grounded in community pharmacies reduces waste because of the uncompromising health design. More fundamental is that it encourages a referral system.’’