Chairman, Association of Industrial Pharmacists of Nigeria (AIPN), Oyo State, Mr Joseph Salako has said pharmacists would only stop being endangered if they think as entrepreneurs in the increasingly competitive global market.

Mr Salako spoke at a one-day business summit of the association in Ibadan with the theme “Entrepreneurship and Pharmacy Practice–Challenges and Future prospects.” Noting that the morale of Nigerian pharmacists is down because of the competitive market trends and low profitability, unfavourable government policies, policy summersaults and unethical and unhealthy competition from non professionals among others, Mr Salako said it was necessary that the professionals should look into various aspects of the profession yet untapped.

 

He said “pharmacists must think as entrepreneurs to weather the storms, identify our problems, proffer solutions, combine our efforts instead of fighting ourselves over nothing and move the profession forward.”

 

Although pharmacy practice is not about profit or money making but rather saving of lives, Mr Salako declared that pharmacists must think profitability for their continuous survival, adding “we must take this profession from the level of unprofitability venture to a wealthy enterprise.”

 

Mr Salako declared: “the welfare of pharmacists must also be taken seriously as survival of the pharmacist may equally lead to survival of the patients through the quality services we render.”

 

The keynote speaker, Dr Obaloluwa Ojo, MD, Merit Healthcare Ltd, saying that training in pharmacy school did not equip for entrepreneurship, reiterated that  pharmacists must consider how best to improve their skills to make the profession profitable.

 

Dr Ojo stating that 99 per cent of businesses of pharmacy are not in the hands of pharmacists, said: “We must know what others know that we do not know. Interpretation of what we see matters much based on our mind set and educational exposure.”

 

He, therefore, challenged pharmacy professionals not to mix sentiment in their approach to business, stating that there is no rule that says pharmacy practice must be owned by pharmacists.

 

Dr Ojo added that green lands that pharmacists can tap into included generic drug marketing, franchising, local production consultancy, organised distribution market research, veterinary medicine, traditional product development and cosmetology.

 

By Sade Oguntola