200 Patients Receive Free Treatment In Benue

TWO hundred patients received free diagnosis and treatment from the Benue State council of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, as part of its activities commemorating the World Pharmacists Day.

At the free outreach health scheme, which held at the Cool- off Park and Garden, people with various health complaints including fever, high blood pressure, diabetes, hyperthitis, rheumatic pains, HIV and many other ailments thronged the venue to be treated.

In a chat on the occasion, the immediate past chairman of PSN in the state, Pharmacist Moses Terhemba Asoo, told The Guardian that council decided to embark on the scheme to educate the rural masses on their health needs and give them basic health screening towards for correct medication

Pharmacist Asoo identified professional rivalry among the doctors, Pharmacists and other health practitioners as the major challenge confronting health practice and the patients even as he called on government to create enabling environment by treating Pharmacists fairly like the medical doctors.
“The professional rivalry does not go down well for the practice and the patients. Whether we are doctors, pharmacists or whatever, the focal point is the patient. So, everybody needs a fairly enabling environment,” he added,

He called on Government to execute the law which stipulates that all hospitals in the country whether government or private ones, must have a Pharmacist to moderate administration of drugs for safety.

The former PSN chairman also enjoined patients to stop patronizing pharmaceutical shops that operate without professional pharmacists, licenses and without a signpost.

In his comment, the state Director of Pharmaceutical Services, Simeon Ityo vowed that the law on registration would not spare any body operating without requisite licenses adding that his office will continue to clamp down on defaulters.