The FCT department of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has referred to as for stronger integration of conventional drugs into Nigeria’s healthcare system.
It additionally urged the federal authorities to recognise group pharmacies as major healthcare centres.
The decision was made on Thursday in Abuja throughout the 2025 World Pharmacists Day celebration, themed “Assume Well being, Assume Pharmacists,” as declared by the Worldwide Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP).
Abubakar Danraka, Abuja zonal coordinator of the West African Postgraduate School of Pharmacists (WAPCP), mentioned pharmacists have been main efforts to standardise natural and conventional treatments for secure use.
He mentioned the Federal Ministry of Well being and Social Welfare already had a Division of Conventional and Various Drugs, whereas the Nationwide Institute for Pharmaceutical Analysis and Improvement (NIPRD) was actively creating indigenous medicines.
“Drug improvement begins with ethnopharmacology, our communities’ data. NIPRD is making certain that natural medicines are standardised and made secure.
“What we’d like now’s political will, institutional help, authorized backing, and funding,” he mentioned.
Mr Danraka additionally cited the Nigerian Pure Drugs Improvement Company (NNMDA), led by a pharmacy professor, as one other key establishment that formulates natural remedies used for numerous circumstances.
PSN-FCT chairman, Salamatu Orakwelu, mentioned the World Pharmacists Day celebration offered a platform to highlight the important roles pharmacists play in healthcare supply.
“Pharmacists aren’t simply dispensers; we conduct analysis and guarantee medicines are accessible, inexpensive, efficient, and used rationally,” she mentioned.
She confused the significance of collaboration within the career and highlighted challenges corresponding to workforce shortages and monetary pressures, whereas reaffirming pharmacists’ dedication to affected person care.
Additionally talking, Olatunji Aloba, chairman of the Affiliation of Group Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), FCT chapter, renewed the decision for group pharmacies to be formally designated as major healthcare centres.
“Pharmacies are sometimes the primary level of contact for sufferers. Globally, they already function PHCs. Nigeria ought to undertake this normal,” he mentioned.
(NAN)
