The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has called for a concerted effort by stakeholders to save the country’s health sector from an imminent collapse.
In a document jointly signed by ACPM National Chairman and Secretary, Dr. Samuel Adekola and Mr. Ambrose Ezeh, respectively, the body lamented the intractable challenges in the country’s health sector due to ‘’shoddy and irresponsible administrative patterns in the health system.
‘’ACPN have continued to critically evaluate the Nigerian health space and we are driven by a strong conviction that greed and avarice have encouraged an inequitable spread of privileges and resources of players in the health system to the detriment of consumers of health who are short-changed by the government and providers.’’
“The ACPN puts on record that all the goals and objectives of both the National Health Policy and National Drug Policy, which centres on accessibility, affordability, safe and efficacious health care services and credible drugs supply system have never been and may never be met because of the shoddy and irresponsible manner we have adopted in running our health system.”
It criticised appointments in the health sector, saying it was against international best practices that hinges on the philosophy of meritocracy, which allowed for selection based on merit and competencies.
The document further said: “It is unfortunate that Nigerian physicians and their umbrella body have blackmailed and as well as intimidated successive administrations in Nigeria at the federal and many states levels to continue to insist that appointments as Minister of Health and Commissioners for Health as well as those of Permanent Secretaries remain the birthright of physicians without any trace of backing in the relevant statute books.
“The scenario is the same with all appointments into the MDAs at the federal and state levels with deleterious consequences on public health outputs in Nigeria. It should interest observers that all appointments into prime MDAs in the health sector for instance; NHIS, NPHCDA, NACA, NCDC, Essential Drug List Committee and all special health intervention programmes including National Malaria Control, Tuberculosis Control, Leprosy Control e.t.c. are dominated by physicians, including heads of all public hospitals at both state and federal level. In other climes, positions of leadership are based purely on merit, skill and competencies. A quick example is the current Director General of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, an Eritrean-born Ethiopian biologist and public health researcher.