Posted on: Thu 25-11-2021

National Financial Secretary of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN), Samuel Babatunde, has urged medical personnel in the country to always complement government’s efforts in health sector.

Babatunde, who spoke with journalists in Ilorin, Kwara State, said health, which remains a vital human component, was too expensive for government alone to handle.

He cited some third world countries, including Nigeria, where human population was increasing in geometrical level with lack of adequate health structure and plans, warning that such oversight could cause devastating experience in the health sector of such countries.

He lamented that the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), which the Federal Government established to serve the health needs of Nigerian civil servants collapsed due to non-inclusion of ACPN members from the onset.

Babatunde, however, disclosed ACPN’s plans across Nigeria to lead the way forward for other medical professionals in its campaign to support the sector through free medical services to indigent citizens its areas of operations.

He said the association recently demonstrated its support for the government by decrying citizens’ alleged low awareness of the high rates of Diabetes Miletus among the population.

He also pointed out that in the past 10 years, he had been embarking on free screening, counseling and referrals for members of his immediate community in Olorunshogo area of Ilorin.

The pharmacist He highlighted the negative impacts diabetes has had on members of the society, saying that both morbidity and mortality from the disease outweighed the combined global deaths occasioned from the COVID-19 pandemic.  

He also spoke on the role of the citizenry and the healthcare professionals in salvaging the ugly trend, adding: “Much can be achieved together in the struggle to stem progression in the number of cases if we all live up to our respective duties.”

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