…As PCN opens Lagos zonal office

By Sola Ogundipe

In line with its resolve to promote patient-focused practice within the Nigerian pharmaceutical industry, the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria, PCN, has stepped up public service delivery in Lagos and environs.

Disclosing this to newsmen at the official opening of the newly constructed PCN corporate Lagos zonal office building, the Registrar of the PCN, Dr Elijah Mohammed said the development was in line with the shift of medical practice from being product-focused to patient-focused.

Mohammed, who said the welfare of Nigerians is paramount, explained that the new office was better positioned to enable the PCN to carry out its regulatory activities more efficiently to the benefit of the patient.

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“We have demonstrated the candid and forthright aim of the government. This building was supported fully by the House of Reps and the Senate by making provisions for the construction, and the Executive arm ensured it was constructed in record time all for the good of Nigerians.

“It will improve the service delivery of the Council for the welfare of Nigerians because we now have more space to accommodate more workers. It is a full complex with no less than 38 offices and there is provision for a library to serve as a drug information centre and to communicate more effectively with stakeholders.”

Noting that pharmacy has both the product and practice components, Mohammed explained that over the years, Nigerian pharmacists have been emphasising on the product, but we are now shifting focus to the patient.

“The link between all medical professionals is the patient. What is going on now in the pharmaceutical landscape is that the pharmacists are shifting from being product-centred to patient-centered, and the shift is causing some misunderstanding.

“For instance, we want to know what impact a particular drug is going to have on the patient, this will help in the reorientation of all the professionals. This is what the emphasis should be and that is the shift of pharmacy practice in the country and all over the world.

“If we all understand this logic, people that are faking drugs will now have to change their orientation; the players that are not pharmacists within the pharmaceutical landscape will also change their orientation.

“We are saying that whoever you are, you must have it ingrained in you that it is the impact of the drug on the patient that matters in the long run and this would help to reduce the incidences the drug abuse, drug faking, etc.

He said the PCN was  utilising the “hub and spoke” model to ensure that pharmaceutical services are disseminated within the confines of the law.

On his own part, the Chairman, Governing Council, PCN, Pharm Ahmed Mora noted that the new zonal office is the 9th facility owned and built by the Council with support from the National Assembly and the Federal Government.