Pharm. Sam Ohuabunwa, President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), has tasked members on the production and administration of quality drugs to improve the lives of Nigerians.
Ohuabunwa made the call on Saturday, in Enugu, at an event to mark the ‘2021 World Pharmaceutical Day’ under the Chairmanship of Sen. Ike Ekweremadu, with the theme: “Pharmacy: always trusted for your health”.
The programme, which began on Thursday with a road walk, would round-off on Saturday with the PSN’s Annual General Meeting.
Ohuabunwa charged members to ensure high quality products that would guarantee safety of patients, as it was their primary responsibility to help safeguard lives.
He said that the conference would help practising Pharmacists to work together with other healthcare professionals to research, manufacture and distribute quality drugs.
The PSN president noted that the quality of life, expectancy and human development indices of the average Nigerian were very low, charging pharmacists on service delivery as Nigerians trusted them with their prescriptions.
The president expressed displeasure at the situation whereby in spite of the various contributions of pharmacists to the country, they were still ‘underrepresented, under reported and undermined’.
“Our members never engaged in strikes as we do our work logically and diligently, yet less is given to us. But gladly, many State government are working to improve the allocation of pharmacy for a brighter future.
“And I look forward to a new Nigeria where healthcare will be given its purpose,” Ohuabunwa said.
In a keynote address, the former Vice Chancellor, Enugu State University of Science and Technology (ESUT), Prof. Cyprian Onyeji, advised healthcare providers to ensure adequate drug information and knowledge, to reduce medical errors.
He urged them to always use the Drug Information Service (DIS), which is now on an electronic database, to prescribe and administer drugs.
“They should ensure that if it is the right drug, any deviation from dose and duration will amount to something serious,” he warned.
Onyeji stressed that globally, pharmacists are trusted professionals, who had contributed to healthcare services.
Chairman of the occasion, Ekweremadu, noted that pharmacists were under employed in the country but encouraged them to continue putting in their best.
Receiving the PSN’s award for outstanding leadership, Ekweremadu said he never believed the society could honour him.
“I am shy receiving an award and looking at people that received it today, they are all accomplished and I congratulate them.
“If you are doing well in anything that you do, people will remember you and history will not forget,” he said.
He added that he believed in competence, in terms of recruitment and leadership, the best hand that would guarantee a system that would help everyone.
Earlier, the PSN Chairman, Enugu State, Pharm. Festus Ejikpe, said the programme was aimed at ensuring that the students they produced were of high quality in manufacturing and academia.
According to him, the society wanted to use the occasion to sensitise people that the drugs they gave was of high quality; saying that where there was no trust, Pharmacy practitioners would not progress.
NAN reports that many healthcare professionals were honoured for their contributions and service to humanity.
(NAN)