Buying medications without accessing information wrong —Oyo PSN chairman

CHAIRMAN, Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Oyo State chapter, Mr Adegboyega Oguntoye, has told Nigerians that buying medications without accessing information about them in any pharmacy is wrong.

Mr Oguntoye, speaking at a press briefing to mark the 2023 World Pharmacists Day in Ibadan, said pharmacists are an integral part of the health system to ensure the medications are safe, properly handled and utilised to ensure they confer the desired benefit.

Oguntoye, flanked at the media briefing to mark the celebration by Dr Farombi Ogunjobi, Dr Femi Adeoye, Mr Abiodun Ajibade, Mr Rasaki Adeyanju and Mrs Omobolanle Ajao, among others, said the medication information is based on in-depth knowledge of the way medications work in the body, including appropriate selection, dosage and drug interactions.

He declared that pharmacists have indispensable contributions to ensuring universal health coverage and strengthening of the health system through service delivery, preparing the health workforce, ensuring the availability of medical products and vaccines, providing leadership and governance, patient education and medication therapy management, among others.

According to him, “the role of pharmacists, for example, is unique in the area of leadership and governance because we know that for a strong health system, we need effective policies, oversight and accountability, with attention to system design and appropriate regulation.

“Strengthening health systems in ways that achieve more equitable and sustainable improvements to health outcomes requires technical and political knowledge and actions.

“The 2023 World Pharmacists Day campaign is an opportunity for pharmacy to celebrate its achievements in supporting our societies and also to advocate its value and further potential in improving health,” he said.

In bridging gaps in access to quality medications and services, Mr Oguntoye stated that the recently signed pharmacy law in Nigeria has allowed for satellite pharmacies to ensure more people can have access to safe, quality and cost-effective medicines in the country.

He added that the growth of telehealth also affords pharmacists the opportunity to provide remote medication management services, even to underserved areas.

Mr Oguntoye, however, appealed to Governor Seyi Makinde to involve the services of pharmacists in the state’s primary healthcare structure, as it is in the southwestern states of Nigeria, to improve medicine handling and safety in all primary healthcare centres in the state.

He also called for the resuscitation of the state task force on wholesome food and fake drugs, in a bid to improve the status of Oyo State in its drug abuse index.