Oluseye Ojo, Ibadan
Former National President of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mr. Olumide Akintayo, said more than three million unregistered pharmaceutical premises exist in Nigeria due to weak regulatory framework.
He disclosed this in an interview with journalists on the sideline of the opening ceremony of the 2019 pharmacy week of the PSN, Oyo State branch, with the tagline: Pharmacy Practice Beyond 2029: The Reality of Digitalisation in Ibadan, yesterday. It was attended by National Secretary of the society, Mr. Callistus Duru.
“Pharmacy is a highly regulated profession. Unfortunately for us in Nigeria, poor regulatory controls have led to a situation whereby we contend with over three million unregistered pharmaceutical premises in the 36 states of the federation and Abuja.
“Fundamentally, all we are saying simply is that you can’t run away from digitalisation. It has become a world of technology. Nigeria is a global village. So, we cannot run away from events from global environment. But the note of caution here is that you need to develop a solid regulatory framework in the implementation plan for internet pharmacy, a chain pharmacy project and all of that, or anything connected with that.
“We have laws that will still make it possible for us to crack down on physical structures that are unregistered. But how are we going to deal in terms of sanctions and all of that with internet pharmacy? How are will going to handle internet pharmacy because the opertaors will be completely laceless? There will be nobody to hold responsible,” Akintayo said.
Governor Seyi Makinde, who was represented by Commissioner for Health, Dr. Bashir Bello, vowed that his administration would overhaul the structure of health system in the state in order to meet the health needs of people.