ACPN Calls For Health Sector Reform

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has called for urgent reforms in the leadership structure of the Nigerian healthcare system, citing decades of mismanagement, corruption, and the marginalisation of non-physician professionals under the current physician-dominated model.

In a statement signed by the ACPN national chairman, Pharm. Ambrose Ezeh, the association decried the lasting impact of the 1985 Decree 10 policy, which mandates that only physicians can head Federal Health Institutions (FHIs).

According to the pharmacists, this policy shift has derailed the efficiency of healthcare management, replacing professional administrators with clinicians ill-equipped for leadership and governance roles.

“The hospital system was previously managed by professional administrators who ensured structure and discipline. What we have now is a model driven by personal interest, lacking accountability and strategic vision,” the statement read.

The association pointed to poor healthcare outcomes, persistent funding controversies, and an alarming ₦30 billion debt owed to pharmaceutical suppliers as evidence of a broken system.

This debt, the ACPN said, stems from years of financial mismanagement by physician-led hospital administrations, which has disrupted medicine supply chains and threatened the survival of many pharmaceutical businesses.

Beyond financial concerns, the ACPN expressed dissatisfaction with what it described as a climate of professional exclusion, where pharmacists and other healthcare workers are denied their rightful place in the healthcare hierarchy. It referenced recent opposition to the implementation of the Consultant Pharmacist Cadre as an example of ongoing resistance by physicians to shared leadership.

“Nigeria cannot achieve meaningful health sector reforms if the contributions of other professionals are constantly undermined,” the statement warned.