By Sola Ogundipe & Chioma Obinna,

ELDERS in pharmacy practice have stressed the need to mentor upcoming pharmacists with a view to ensure the development of the practice and ensuring that the profession is at par with other professions.

The older pharmacists under the auspices of Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy, NAPharm, also charged upcoming pharmacists to standout by exploring other areas such as politics.

The pharmacists who are mainly Fellows of the profession spoke at the launch of the Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy’s Young Pharmacists Mentoring Programme in Lagos with the theme: “The Next Generation Pharmacist, Poise, Pizzazz and Panache.”

In his presentation, the President, Nigeria Academy of Pharmacy, Prince Julius Adelusi-Adeluyi said pharmacists must take care of its younger generation in order to have an insured future.

The former Minister of Health noted that mentorship became necessary to the group as the future of pharmacy would be handed over to the younger generation. “Mentoring will help to develop young talents and re-position the pharmacy profession.”

Pharmacist Minister

Adelusi-Adeluyi, who expressed concern that no other pharmacist has assumed ministerial position in the country since he left as a Minister of Health decades ago said: “Before me, there was none and after me, there have been none, and that is not good enough. He tasked the young pharmacists to strive for excellence because nobody will like to mentor a failure who does not have an aim.

He advised young pharmacists to open their mind to opportunities as the mentoring programme was an effort by the older and more experienced generation of pharmacists to help the younger generation to realise their potentials in the profession.

He said the mentoring programme intends to reach about 10,000 young pharmacists nationwide, each to be provided  a mentor for a period of one year.

The President of the Academy, described the profession as the only science-driven field that has a commercial window, “in other words, with the pharmaceutical agenda, you can have a commercial window, thus retail pharmacies.”

The President, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, Pharm.  Ahmed Yakasai, stated that the mentoring programme was in the right direction as pharmacy students only learn the rudiments of the training in the university but the actual skills are learnt outside the university.

“We are redirecting them, to think of patients, public health, so people can understand we are thinking about safety as well being the essential member of health care team.”

Also speaking, the Chairman, Planning Committee, Pharm. Jimi Agbaje,  said mentoring has become a way of bringing up the younger ones and is not limited to pharmacy.

He said each year, Nigeria has a shortfall of 2000 pharmacists, he explained that the profession is trying to formalise mentoring in a way that is better organised for the younger pharmacists.

“We are trying to get them involved in a way that they will add value to the profession and themselves.”

On the role of pharmacists, he noted: “It is not about competition in the health sector, the roles are clearly defined. If everybody is practising those roles properly then the roles of each profession will be better appreciated”.