Hospital Pharmacies Should Be Upgraded To Manufacture Drugs –PCN

The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria has urged government-owned health facilities across the country to reactivate small-scale drug manufacturing in their pharmacies.

According to the PCN, Nigeria’s public hospitals should go beyond stocking and dispensing of drugs to manufacturing of some essential items needed by their institutions.

The PCN stated that the COVID-19 pandemic has further emphasised the need for the nation’s public hospitals to have the capacity to manufacture some simple pharmaceutical products in-house and not be running around to procure them.

The registrar of the PCN, Dr. Elijah Mohammed, made the call in a presentation at the just concluded Media Week on COVID-19, organised by the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacists, in partnership with the Nigerian Guild of Editors.

The PCN registrar, in the presentation made available, said the scarcity of some simple pharmaceutical preparations that hospital pharmacies should be able to manufacture became very acute when COVID-19 pandemic was at its peak, noting that many hospitals were running around for those products.

“The PCN had to raise a memo for the reactivation of small-scale manufacturing in our hospitals in that period and it was approved by the honourable minister of health.

“The reason was that it became embarrassing that some hospitals were running around for ordinary sanitiser. This is wrong, as even Year II pharmacy students are taught how to produce sanitiser. This brought to the fore the negligence in the pharmacies of our hospitals.

“We call on our hospitals to reactivate the small-scale manufacturing processes in hospital pharmacies. If the pharmacies are functioning properly, the availability of some items will not be a challenge to anyone,” the PCN registrar said.

Mohammed also urged the National Primary Health Care Development Agency to ensure that pharmacists play a greater role at primary healthcare, noting that while there is yet to be a policy to support his call, many pharmacists are already making invaluable contributions in primary care services in communities across the country.

“Pharmacists and pharmacies are usually the first points of contact for an average Nigerian when it comes to healthcare services, particularly in the rural areas. Pharmacists can also help with the ongoing COVID-19 vaccination exercise.

“So, the NPHCDA should see the need for pharmacists to be there to play a role,” he said.