The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has described the Chairman of the recently inaugurated Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN), Mr. Ahmed Tijjani Mora, as an imposition by the Federal government.
In a document signed by the PSN President, Mazi Sam Ohuabunwa and eight past presidents of the body, the umbrella body of registered pharmacists in the country, said Mr. Mora is not qualified to hold such an important professional body.
According to the statement, Mr A. T. Mora had been placed on the ‘Roll of Dishonour’ by the PSN since 2015, and the Federal government duly informed.
The statement added that, “it is unimaginable that the government approved the appointment of such a person as Chairman of a Regulatory Agency that regulates and controls the profession of pharmacy in Nigeria.”
The body condemned in strongly terms the role of the Hon. Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Enahire, “who shunned entreaties to be rational and responsible in the bid to restore the full complement of the value chain in Pharmaceutical Services in our country.”
The PSN has therefore threatened to embark on a strike action to register its disapproval of what it described as an imposition by the Federal government, saying it will invoke relevant resolutions of the PSN to protest the foister of Mr. Mora on pharmacists in the country.
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“In an unprecedented move, we shall call on all Hospital and Administrative Pharmacists in Government Hospitals, Community and Industrial Pharmacists in the Private Sector to proceed on a total strike and withdraw their services. For the records, this might affect the logistics of production and supply of essential as well as other Pharmaceutical Care Services and drugs to the entire Health System including the Isolation Centres that caters for COVID-19 cases in Nigeria.
“The PSN will direct all Registered Pharmacists to boycott all activities of the PCN forthwith. This will include Mandatory Continued Professional Development (MCPD), registration of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical premises as well as other routine statutory activities of the PCN,” the statement further read.
The PSN appealed to the government to encourage efforts by the professional body to entrench integrity in the administration and control of pharmaceutical practice in the country.
“We strongly enjoin the Federal Government to continue its tradition of consulting with the PSN as part of due diligence to ensure quality control of persons who emerge as Chairman of the PCN,” it said.
The PSN assured the Federal Government of its willingness to continually partner government at all levels in ensuring credible healthcare delivery in the optimal public interest.
