• NHIA pushes for universal health coverage
To curb brain drain in the health sector, pharmacists have proffered strengthened local manufacturing, digital health and telepharmacy, government subsidies and support, capacity building and specialisation, among others, as solutions.
This was canvassed at an event yesterday to commemorate the 2025 World Pharmacists Day, with the theme, ‘Think Health, Think Pharmacists’, organised by the Pharmacy Department, Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital (FNPH), Yaba, Lagos State.
World Pharmacists Day, celebrated every September 25, was initiated by the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) in 2009 to recognise pharmacists’ contribution to health.
The pharmacists also canvassed the recognition of consultant pharmacists as done in developed countries, as well as the appointment of a pharmacist as an adviser to the President.
In a keynote address, the Managing Director/Chief Research Officer, Sonedis Limited, Dr Solomon Aigbavboa, asserted that pharmacists “are the most accessible healthcare providers” across the world.
According to him, pharmacists are present in hospitals, communities, research and digital platforms. He said the challenges facing the profession in Nigeria include the lack of basic infrastructure, economic downturn, brain drain and workforce shortages, foreign exchange for importing raw materials and limited clinical recognition.
In his welcome speech, the Head of Pharmacy Department, FNPH Yaba, Oyetunde Ajayi, corroborated Aigbavboa that pharmacists were more accessible to communities than other healthcare providers, as they could be approached without the consultation bureaucracy.
On his part, the Chief Medical Director (CMD), FNPH Yaba, Dr Olugbenga Owoeye, described the theme as apt, as the pharmacist is responsible for the development of drugs that we use to attain the resolution of sickness among patients.
MEANWHILE, the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) has urged Nigerians to embrace health insurance as a path to achieving universal health coverage, even as the agency admitted that less than half of the population is currently enrolled.
At a stakeholders’ engagement in Lagos, NHIA officials said the 2022 Act has made health insurance compulsory for all Nigerians and legal residents, with a target of nationwide coverage by 2030.
In his remarks, NHIA Assistant Director Amahalu Chika said the agency was intensifying advocacy to ensure Nigerians, regardless of income level, come on board.
“Before now, employers may register employees. But the May 2022 Act now says employers shall register their employees. Every citizen and every legal resident must have health insurance,” she said.
NHIA State Coordinator in Ikeja, Dr Bethuel Kasimu Abraham, said the forum was necessary to update stakeholders on new policies and gather feedback.
The meeting, attended by Health Maintenance Organisations (HMOs) and other stakeholders, comes at a time when health costs are rising sharply and the government faces pressure to improve access to affordable, quality care.
