Pharmaceutical Care is the practice in which the practioner-- a Pharmacist, takes responsibility for a patient's drug-related needs and is held accountable for this commitment. In the course of this practice, responsible drug therapy is provided for the purpose of achieving positive patients outcomes. It is the Pharmacist's contribution to the care of patients in order to optimize medicine use and improve health outcomes.

In Nigeria, this practice had been hindered by physicians who are mostly at the helm of affairs in our hospitals. Many of these physicians do not really understand the concept, hence they feel insecure about it. Some of them actually understand that the concept is not in any way a threat to their medical practice, but because of their selfish interests, they oppose the idea.

Some of this physicians in public hospitals connive with private drug suppliers to rip the government off the profits accruable from drugs in our public hospitals. As we all know, drugs are the cash cows of healthcare, hence instead of upgrading the public hospitals' pharmacies to perform optimally to the advantage of government and patients, these unscrupulous physicians are only concerned about how to milk the system, hence they take bribes from private suppliers and refer patients to them where patients are made to pay through their noses for drugs that can be purchased at a cheaper rate if the hospital pharmacies had such drugs.

With the introduction of the pharmaceutical Care concept, the Pharmacists should now be responsible for ensuring that essential drugs are stocked in our hospital pharmacies and also ensure that patients benefit optimally from their medicines while goverments also gain maximum accruals from drugs. This concept is the reason why Pharm.D degree was introduced as the minimum qualifications for licensure to practice as a Pharmacist.

Therefore, the new ministers of health have a duty to ensure that Nigerians benefit from this concept by promoting its implementation in our public hospitals. They have to allay the fears of Nigerian Pharmacists and other healthcare providers that physicians would use their powers to truncate growth of our healthcare system when they're given positions of leadership. If not ignorance, selfishness and outright witch-hunting, there's no genuine reasons for Nigerian physicians to constitute themselves as clogs in the wheels of progress of our healthcare system. The pharmaceutical Care concept does not in any way interfere with the responsibilities of the physicians but is meant to benefit health-seeking Nigerians.


The ministers should know that we are watching keenly and would not hesitate to fight back using every legal means should they try to suffocate other healthcare professionals to the disadvantage of Nigerians.

Most stakeholders accept the future of healthcare is in Pharmaceutical care as the full range of knowledge and skills of Pharmacists can be beneficially and appropriately harnessed.

The qualifications of a Pharmacists across different countries have morphed from Bsc (Pharm) to PharmD (Doctorate in Pharmacy) consequently receiving the same clinical instructions as medical doctors.

Therefore most Pharmacists are qualified to provide treatment options, manage medication side effects, interpret lab results, perform physical exams, and administer vaccines, among several other professional services

The benefits of integrating Pharmacists into active clinical settings have been clearly demonstrated in the US.

When Pharmacists get utilised beyond their primary role of monitoring and dispensing medications their impact can be fully felt in alleviating the huge burden on Physicians, as elderly and old old patients can get into the management roaster of Pharmacists while Physicians target new and complex cases.

Acccording to Deloitte research, healthcare in the future will become increasingly focused on prevention rather than treatment, with healthcare increasingly taking place in the home or the community. In such a future, the pharmacist workforce could move toward providing clinical services and primary and specialty care such as cell and gene therapy, as well as assisting patients with digital healthcare devices.

Federally Qualified Health Centers in the US, a community healthcare setting that provides health services to underserved populations like illegal migrants have clearly demonstrated the importance of fully intergrating Pharmacists into the clinical settings

According to a report published in the American Journal of Clinical Pharmacy on the role of Clinical Pharmacists in FQHC in the US, Pharmacists in FQHCs are providing care that is interprofessional, multifaceted, and evolving rapidly in response to environmental changes. Pharmacists are routinely involved in the traditional management of chronic disease, such as diabetes, hypertension, behavioral health, and respiratory conditions. In addition, pharmacists have forged roles in preventive care, infectious disease, and pain management.

At such it is safe to say the skills and learning of Pharmacists clearly tailored towards clinical practice can also benefit most hospital settings across Africa placing them at a role that surpasses monitoring and dispensing of drugs in both private and public practice

Dr Ayukebot O Rowland
Pharmacognosist
Flavell MEDICINA

DoctorAyukebot:
Most stakeholders accept the future of healthcare is in Pharmaceutical care as the full range of knowledge and skills of Pharmacists can be beneficially and appropriately harnessed.

The qualifications of a Pharmacists across different countries have morphed from Bsc (Pharm) to PharmD (Doctorate in Pharmacy) consequently receiving the same clinical instructions as medical doctors.

Therefore most Pharmacists are qualified to provide treatment options, manage medication side effects, interpret lab results, perform physical exams, and administer vaccines, among several other professional services

The benefits of integrating Pharmacists into active clinical settings have been clearly demonstrated in the US.

When Pharmacists get utilised beyond their primary role of monitoring and dispensing medications their impact can be fully felt in alleviating the huge burden on Physicians, as elderly and old old patients can get into the management roaster of Pharmacists while Physicians target new and complex cases.

Acccording to Deloitte research, healthcare in the future will become increasingly focused on prevention rather than treatment, with healthcare increasingly taking place in the home or the community. In such a future, the pharmacist workforce could move toward providing clinical services and primary and specialty care such as cell and gene therapy, as well as assisting patients with digital healthcare devices.

Federally Qualified Health Centers in the US, a community healthcare setting that provides health services to underserved populations like illegal migrants have clearly demonstrated the importance of fully intergrating Pharmacists into the clinical settings

According to a report published in the American Journal of Clinical Pharmacy on the role of Clinical Pharmacists in FQHC in the US, Pharmacists in FQHCs are providing care that is interprofessional, multifaceted, and evolving rapidly in response to environmental changes. Pharmacists are routinely involved in the traditional management of chronic disease, such as diabetes, hypertension, behavioral health, and respiratory conditions. In addition, pharmacists have forged roles in preventive care, infectious disease, and pain management.

At such it is safe to say the skills and learning of Pharmacists clearly tailored towards clinical practice can also benefit most hospital settings across Africa placing them at a role that surpasses monitoring and dispensing of drugs in both private and public practice

Dr Ayukebot O Rowland
Pharmacognosist
Flavell MEDICINA

Thank you for throwing more light on the subject matter.