By Newsong Bello

Community Pharmacists under the auspices of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, Lagos State Chapter, have vowed to tackle the menace of ‘register and go’(R&G) syndrome, an unethical practice that allows a registered pharmacist to drop his certificate for registration in exchange for money, saying it has tarnished the image of pharmacists and brought the profession to ridicule.

Speaking in Lagos at the free Health Outreach Programme for traders at Alade Market, Ikeja, by the ACPN, Ikeja Zone, at the popular Alade Market, Ikeja, Lagos, the Chairman of the Association, Pharm. Lawrence Ekhator noted that there are a lot of bad eggs among the practitioners who encourage and fuel the register-and-go, popularly known as R&G practice and allow the influx of charlatans in the respected profession.

Ekhator said the menace of R&G has become very rampant, especially at this period when the country is faced with a shortage of healthcare practitioners as a result of the mass exodus of professionals to foreign countries, adding that pharmacists in this class believe the way to go is to register an outlet by the way of R&G format and collect money in return.

He said  the menace of R&G appears insurmountable as the practice has become an embarrassment to the profession, adding that one of the ways the association has decided to checkmate it is to leverage technology.

 “We have tried several means in the past and we engage the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, PCN, to assist us in this regard, but all to no avail, so we have decided to stop putting the blames at the doorstep of the PCN, and take the bull by the horn in our little way, and we believe if the data of all registered community pharmacists is biometrically captured, there won’t be room for R&G any longer,” he said.

On the free health screening which also witnessed the distribution of free drugs, the Chairman, Healthcare Providers Association of Nigeria, HCPAN, Lagos State Branch, Pharm. Abiola Paul-Ozieh said the biometric data capturing of members is a right step in the right direction.

Paul-Ozieh, who is a former chairman of ACPN, Lagos State said self-regulation targeted at reducing or possibly eliminating  quackery, saying the practice of dropping one’s certificate in exchange for monetary compensation and walking away is absurd and should stop.

Also speaking, Pharm. Vivian Ibeh, Coordinator, ACPN, Ikeja Zone, noted that going by the popular saying that ‘health is wealth, the pharmacists in Ikeja and its axis have decided to make the process easier by bringing healthcare, checkups, consultation and others closer to the people and of course, making it free of charge, while expanding the roles of community pharmacists which entails ‘point of care testing’.

Responding, an Octogenarian, Alhaja Abibat Balogun, who came in the company of her domestic staff appreciated the ACPN, Ikeja Zone for bringing the free health screening to their doorsteps and called for more support to enable average Nigerians to live a meaningful life.