PHARMACISTS in Nigeria have urged the Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) to commence prompt enforcement of an aspect of the laws establishing the council making it mandatory for proprietors of private hospitals and clinics in the country to have in their services qualified pharmacists.

The PCN is a regulatory aspect of pharmacy practice in Nigeria. It is a Federal Government parastatal that registers and licenses all the pharmacists and pharmacy technicians, pharmacy shops, patent medicine shops, amongst other functions. At present, the body has been but could be reconstituted before the end of this year.

According to pharmacists who spoke yesterday in Ilorin under the aegis of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), the PCN should act in this regard if the profession of pharmacy in the country would continue to be relevant.

The Kwara state chapter of the PSN, which joined its colleagues across the world to mark this year's World Pharmacists Day, alleged marginalization of its members in the nation's health sector, noting that the development has led to a considerable brain drain in the pharmacy sector, as many Nigerian pharmacists now prefer to work abroad due to better recognition and remunerations.

The speakers at the event held in Ilorin, spoke on the topic: 'Safe Medicines for Nigerians - Who Cares?'

The speakers include the local Chairman of the PSN, Abdulmajeed Oderinde, the Director of Pharmaceutical Services, Kwara State Ministry of Health, Mrs Risikat Lawal, Deputy Director of Pharmacy, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital (UITH), Abdulrahaman Afolabi, Deputy Director NAFDAC, Kwara state, Mrs. Phebian Odu and Mrs Williams Felicia Esemekipora of the Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ilorin. They all canvassed better recognition of pharmacists in the nation's health care system.

Oderinde, who disclosed the readiness of the PSN in the state to host the next annual national conference of the body, said that no doctor or other health workers should be allowed to dispense drugs to patients in hospitals other than pharmacists. He noted that where such hospitals could not afford to have such pharmacists on permanent employment, they could enter into a part time agreement with them.