FG should ignore striking doctors – Pharm . Akintayo, PSN President In this interview with GBENRO ADEOYE, the President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, Olumide Akintayo, comments on the challenges in the health sector, National politics and other sundry issues The National Universities Commission recently reversed its approval of the Doctor of Pharmacy, why was this? I will be bold and honest to admit there were problems. Incidentally, these problems were in-house to a large extent especially from some of our universities. I must thank NUC for doing its job professionally and identifying the grains of sand in our shoes before things degenerate to an irredeemable calamity. Having said this, we are working to redress the dimensions of drawbacks to put in place a format that is procedurally acceptable to the NUC. The changing roles of pharmacists have benefited several countries that have adopted Pharm. D degree in health care services improvement and the quality of lives of patients. The pharmacist is physically present and professionally active to contribute to the positive outcomes of drug therapy. In addition, he is able to save drug costs and prevent unnecessary wastages because of his intervention at the right time before drug administration. After drug administration, he also monitors the action of the drug and the response of the patient as well as making necessary interventions to minimise drug-related problems. None of these roles encroach on the roles of other health care practitioners, including medical doctors. We are appealing to the Executive Secretary of the NUC to use his good office to facilitate speedy actualisation of Pharm. D programme in Nigerian universities. It is also imperative that I strongly appeal to all members of the Federal Executive Council to speedily approve the Benchmark Minimum Academic Standard of this programme which is pending for their adoption. We used to be familiar with Bachelor of Pharmacy degree, how is it different from Pharm D? Pharm. D is basically patient oriented pharmacy practice while the B. Pharm is a product/drug oriented pharmacy practice. In other words, the Pharm. D programme which has been in existence in other climes, for example, in the USA for about 50 years now and which is the norm in even African countries like Egypt as well as Ghana, enables us to have better patient outcomes because the pharmacist who manufactures the drug has a unique opportunity to dispense it and monitor the effect on the patient. This has become increasingly important because of new complexities arising from the use of medicines. Why is the programme so controversial? I guess it depends on what you choose to tag controversial. Nothing good comes easy. For us as a profession, we are not used to being served any privilege on a la carte basis. We have gotten used to fighting for our rights, privileges and liberties. The Pharm D initiative will not be an exception and so we are motivated to turn the stumbling blocks into stepping stones of achievement. The programme involves clinical care and graduates will also hold the title of ‘Dr.’, is this why medical doctors have been heavily critical of it? Does it clash with their duties? You may wish to find out from doctors who often mouth international best practices why they choose to be critical. I do not bother myself with the output of armchair critics, it is important to stick to your focus in all endeavours. As for whether it clashes with their duties, my emphatic response is a ‘no’. Clinical pharmacy offers a unique opportunity for better patient care including the designs of personalised care-plans in a myriad of clinical disease states. It is a practice those who cherish rational logic will embrace. Often times, I declare that we as pharmacists do not seek to take anything from any profession while we expect others to reciprocate that gesture. If people decide to be unduly egocentric by imagining every decision in health care will be subject to their whimsical and capricious propensities, then you respond by putting them in their right place. Let me reiterate here again that traditional roles keep changing. University of Benin introduced the programme to its students in 2001, what will be the fate of those who have graduated with the degree already? There is no problem. The training they had still positions them to be registered as pharmacists by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria. When we cross the rubicon, all matters arising will become deliverables. What about students aspiring to study the course in school? The same explanation suffices, as soon as we iron out the thorny issues, Pharm D will become a minimum registrable criterion to practise in Nigeria. All aspiring students will key into it. Do you think that medical doctors had a hand in the withdrawal? I do not dignify or deify people unnecessarily. Some doctors have been trying to sabotage the Pharm D progamme at NUC, but the NUC is blessed with seasoned technocrats who do not allow emotional paroxysm to thrive. It is important to openly say that some of the enemies of the Pharm D programmes are actually my colleagues in the academia. I have now resolved to confront them and bring them to book if they do not align with the resolution of the AGM of the PSN in this regard. As for resolving the current impasse I prophesy that it is settled. There seems to be so much disunity in the health sector with the ongoing professional rivalry, what are the issues? We shall spend days here if I get into that, but for the records, they include but not limited to disagreements over having a post of Surgeon-General in Nigeria and arbitrariness in the health sector; skipping of CONHESS 10; consultancy status for health care providers; implementation of agreements signed with government since 2009; and the National Health Bill. With respect to consultancy status, every autonomous profession promotes consultancy in its hierarchy especially in the science inclined professions. This is why we have consultant engineers, architects, surveyors and similar cadres in the science based professions. In Pharmacy, Medical Laboratory Science, Physiotherapy, Radiography and Nursing/Midwifery, consultancy status has been a reality in other climes like in the United Kingdom, United States, Australia and Canada. Fundamentally, there is an order from the National Industrial Court of Nigeria that compels government to continue to respect the appointment of health professionals who have approvals for that cadre through the National Council on Establishment or those appointed by Management Boards of the Hospitals where they practise. The Medical and Dental Consultants of Nigeria in pursuance of its agenda of vindictive purposelessness against other health professions is challenging this court order through an appeal process. We concede they have the liberty to lawfully do this, but any attempt to gain what was lost through valid court processes is a recipe for anarchy which will consume the facilitators of same ultimately. How can these issues be resolved? That’s very simple, government must walk the talk with respect to its rule of law mantra. Treat all citizens with the constitutional dictates anchored on an equalisation philosophy and all will be well. The strike embarked on by the Nigerian Medical Association has to do with what other health workers were agitating for, what is your take on it? The fundamental distortion in health care in Nigeria revolves around the hegemonic inclination of the NMA and its acolytes for a grab- grab syndrome of all resources and privileges in the health sector. Stakeholders in health had looked forward to a paradigm shift from a leadership grounded in infantile rascality to a more productive, rewarding and embracing methodology. It is however becoming clearer that nothing fundamental has changed as we contend with a dawn inclined on geriatric rascality obviously in a bid to impress an extremely narrow crowd and interests. Recent vituperations of the NMA have now confirmed that we shall have to continue to put issues in perspective as the system is still laced with verbal diarrhoea orchestrated by forces of the NMA. The PSN puts on record once again that it is government at all levels that creates undisguised incentives to the NMA and its allies to continue to serve strike notices. It is common knowledge the NMA, NARD and similar platforms are professional groups and therefore cannot legitimately assume the responsibilities of trade unions which engage government in labour disputes. Rather than government tackling this aberration frontally once and for all, it continues to legitimise the illegality of these medical groups through unlawful dialogues and negotiations. This has strengthened successive leaderships of these groups to exploit the gaffes in the system to infringe on the rights of lawful stakeholders in Nigeria. The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria therefore urges government to ignore the threats of the NMA and advise it to pursue any legitimate demand in line with due process. The resistance of doctors to the approval of consultancy status for qualified members of the health team is laced with abysmal ignorance. It is baffling that people who mouth international best practices stand on hypocritical platitudes that expanding the consultancy frontier can create chaos in hospitals. The logical question to ask is why does it not create chaos in other climes? It should be a matter of embarrassment to seasoned bureaucrats in Nigeria that it is only in the health sector that you find a professional body agitating for the welfare and upliftment of its own members, but also goes ahead to peg or dictate what its contemporaries in other professions which it chooses to denigrate and insult through references such as allied health workers or para- medicals can earn. This cycle of delinquency which was the norm will no longer find space in our relationship with our medical friends who have always run in the mentality of emperors. The unending agitations for the appointment of a Surgeon General by the NMA is one that should attract lovers of our democracy. Unfortunately the NMA cabal finds it difficult to reckon with the golden tenets of a democratic order having gotten used to the era of military dictatorships when their godfathers utilised their good relationship with erstwhile military leaders to impose draconian decrees that have remained the militating bane for industrial harmony in the volatile health sector. Source: punchng
Posted on: Sat, 05 Jul 2014 10:01:23 +0000
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