OYO State Commissioner for Health, Dr Basir Bello, said pharmacy technicians must ensure they are relevant to Nigeria’s health by being patient-oriented rather than product-oriented.
Speaking at the induction of 25 pharmacy technicians from the Oyo State College of Health Science and Technology (OYCHST), Dr Bello, said pharmacy practice has changed significantly in recent years to become patient-oriented.
He said that as the intermediate cadre of the pharmacy profession, their efforts should always be to ensure safety of medicines.
You will be dealing with pharmaceutical products and any single error could cause lives. So, when dispensing the drugs, remember to take care of the patient more than the product at hand,” he said.
While inducting the pharmacy technicians, the Registrar, Pharmacists’ Council of Nigeria, Mr Elijah Mohammed, said the council had reviewed their training and taken steps to properly situate them at all levels of pharmaceutical service delivery.
Mr Mohammed, speaking through PCN’s zonal coordinator, Mrs Yetunde Oseni, said in Nigeria’s task-shifting policy on health work force, pharmacy technicians now have a clear role and are adequately captured.
He stated that the council since the inception of the programme had certified 1454 pharmacy technicians in the country from 42 colleges and schools across the country.
Provost, OYCHST, Mr Siji Ganiyu, decried poor employment of pharmacy technicians, like the other middle level health care workers, especially at the primary health care level where their services are most required.
Mr Ganiyu said that middle-level health care workers are supposed to account for at least 70 per cent of the health workforce at the primary health care level but are fast disappearing in government hospitals.
He declared “At the rate at which we are producing them going by quotes given by their respective regulatory bodies, we do not have enough middle-level health care workers to serve our population in line with World Health Organisation’s recommendation.
“But we are claiming that they are in excess. From today’s event, we had produced 25 pharmacy technicians. How many do we have in our public health facilities? All PHC centres should have a pharmacy technician but they are not being employed.
“Presently, we do not have them in government service again. So, the ones graduating today are not even enough to serve even one local government, not to talk of the whole state.”