• PSN Is Prepared For Lassa Fever Outbreak
Newly elected President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Pharm. Ahmed Ibrahim Yakasai has said his administration is committed to ensuring drug counterfeiting and hawking become things of the past.
In the same vein, he said that the Society is properly geared in the fight against Lassa fever outbreak to ensure that Nigerians are protected.
“As usual, in line with protocol, the World Health Organisations (WHO) and other donor agencies have been briefed. We have had to contend with public health emergencies; we have conditioned our nation with a health system that thrives on ad-hoc measures rather than build structures, which are both enduring and sustainable.”
“The fundamental problem with our health system appears to be the unfortunate emphasis on curative rather than preventive healthcare. The norm in every civilised or evolving clime is to nurture and build a virile as well as viable primary healthcare model, which embraces the utilisation of the skills, expertise and hands-on experience of all healthcare professionals and workers. To the detriment of consumers in our nation, the culture and philosophy of primary healthcare has been continually jeopardised and almost destroyed.
“In the active days of deadly Ebola Virus Disease (EVD), the erstwhile leadership of the Federal Ministry of Health promised more proactive measures to actualise the primary care concept, which the National Health Act has legitimized. Typical of us, we have waited for another epidemic called Lassa fever, a recurrent annual epidemic to emerge as a reality and public health emergency, before coming up with vintage reactionary slogans,” he said.
The president, who spoke with The Guardian in a chat in Lagos, said his vision is to strengthen society with collaborative, participatory, responsive and transparent leadership.
On factors militating against the operations of the Society, he said multiple taxations, epileptic power supply, bad roads, lack of enabling environment and access to raw materials affect local drug manufacturers’ business adversely.
Yakasai said: “I would engage in public awareness and knowledge on various health, hygiene, sanitation issues with specific emphasis on drugs, to ensure that abuse is reduced. We foster better communications with Federal and State Ministries, National Agency for Food and Drug Administrations Control (NAFDAC), National Primary Health Care Development Agency (NPHCDA), National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) and Schools of Pharmacy, among others.”
Yakasai stated he would promote and support drug research and development and be creative in organising annual National Conferences of PSN to match international standard.
However, he promised to establish a Medicines Information Centre in collaboration with UK Medicines Information Service, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain and Monitor Health Care.
“This is with the aim of finding ways of helping to reduce adverse drug events and medication related errors, reducing wrong prescription, drug abuse, dosage, and duplicate therapy errors.
We would collaborate with academia to ensure we eliminate drug counterfeit among Nigerians and initiate professional indemnity insurance to pharmacists and strengthen group insurance,” he said.
