The Edo State chapter of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has urged its members to consolidate the link between the people and other stakeholders in the drugs manufacturing and distribution value chain to check the production of fake drugs and safeguard the safety of the lives of the people they deal with.
Giving the charge in Benin on Thursday, a former member of the House of Representatives from Edo State, Razaq Bello-Osagie at the Edo state chapter of the association’s maiden edition of valedictory Awards and Inauguration Ceremony, said the strategic roles of the ACPN members were important and implored them to shelve partisanship in the task.
“What you do as a community pharmacist is to dispense drugs, to advise on the use of drugs and such other ancillary issues under the law that set you up. You also must have a national conversation on where you go from here, the citizens’ chatter talked about working within the rules of engagement, how you deliver service, what is expected from you and how through various collaborations we can identify the criminals who threaten the existential imperatives of this association.
“In the entire value chain, there are criminals who manufacture drugs, they send to you which you dispense so you all must put on your thinking cap and have a helicopter view that these people wherever they are, must be removed from the society so that Nigerians can have access to drugs that are efficient, the potencies are high and that when you administer them, they work for you within the rules of prescription”, Bello-Osagie admonished the pharmacists.
Speaking at the event, the new chairman of the chapter, Dr Allen Iboi, said he was taking over the association on a solid foundation already built by his predecessor.
Iboi assured that he would and “consolidate on the gains of the past administration; we will also innovate and standardise the practices and operation of community pharmacists in Edo State, we promise to give our best”.
The major highlight of the ceremony was the presentation of awards to deserving members of the association.
Among the awards issued at the event were: The legend of Community Pharmacy, Pillars of Community Pharmacy, and Community Pharmacy Platinum award among others.