PSN labels Nigeria as biggest exporter of wild oral polio virus

WorldStage Newsonline-- Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has labelled Nigeria as the current biggest exporter of wild oral polio virus in the world. President, PSN, Olumide Akintayo told journalists in Ilorin, at the weekend that in other climes such as the USA, 80 per cent of immunization endeavours were conducted within the confine of community pharmacists, saying that the community pharmacist was the first port of call where people access healthcare. Mr. Akintayo said that “child and maternal mortality in Nigeria and India account for 40 percent of the incident worldwide. Why? Because government is shortchanging pharmacists and other cadres of healthcare providers who have expertise that can help reduce this unfortunate trend.” He said, “today, one out of 100 life births under one results in death. In less than three week ago they still identified three new episode of wild polio virus in Nigeria.” On President Goodluck Jonathan war against fake and counterfeit drugs, the pharmacist said “nothing has changed. The status quo ante is maintained. Government must work its talk. It is no use setting up regulatory agencies that are not well funded to carry out their mandate. “Problem of drug faking has assumed large dimension in this land. I have been saying this that there are security dimensions to curbing the menace. “There are less than 4000 registered pharmaceutical companies, manufacturers wholesalers, retailers including patent medicine drug sellers, but I can confirm that we have over two million different layers who sell drugs.” He attributed the Nigerian sordid healthcare delivery to the relegation of pharmacist and other health professionals to the backburner of things. “So what we have at all levels of health planning and designing in this country government reckons with the input of only one profession and the result is what we are all contending with,” he said. “We live in a country where the constitution says you shall not legislate against privileges that can be enjoyed by any citizen of the federal republic of Nigeria. What is being done is outright discrimination against privileges meant for the Nigerian citizens. “If President Jonathan wants to begin to solve the problems in healthcare the time is now to take stock and find out why did Ali Pate resign? He was frustrated by the bureaucracy of that ministry. Our people will continue to suffer except our government is bold enough to do the right thing. “Pharmacists are not in any form of popularity context with doctors. I do know that constitutional imperatives are very clear. There are conditions precedents in the 1999 constitution for you to be minister of the federal republic of Nigeria. “It is not my business if anybody appoints a doctor as his minister, all we are saying here is that government needs to be very careful in the way it runs healthcare endeavours. The health sector is a peculiar one. It is a multi-disciplinary sector. There is an array of different healthcare providers. “We told government several times that if there are two slots allotted to the federal ministry of health, it cannot get it right if it appoints members of a single profession to run that type of ministry. It has never happened. It is only under the current administration that it has ever happened and it sickening and disgusting. “The fallouts are very clear. Check out some of the things going on in the federal ministry of health. President Jonathan when he came on board recognized that there are problems in the health sector. One of the first things he did was to set up a presidential committee on harmony for the sector. “The committee members came out with a position that most of the things that have created problems for the sector stemmed from an obnoxious act of parliament created during the military era by late Olikoye Ransome Kuti. “That is called Act 10 of 1985. It wasn’t until 1985 that it became the birthright of medical doctors to head hospital in this country. Hitherto, it was administrators heading hospitals. In places like the University Teaching Hospital (UCH), Ibadan what we had were hospital governors. “We have a legislation that in board appointment, between seven and eight slots have been reserved permanently for only medical doctors and with twelve members board. So we have a situation whereby all other health professionals are given one slot. “Tragically, the current health minister has found it very difficult to allow members of other professions in the sector to be represented in any board. Today, presidential committee on harmony report is being manipulated by him and the federal executive council has thrown that report away.” http://www.worldstagegroup.com/worldstagenew/index.php?active=news&newscid=9902&catid=10