In simple terms, a satellite pharmacy is defined as a pharmacy in an institution which provides specialised services for the patients of the institution, and which is dependent upon the centrally located pharmacy for administrative control, staffing, and drug procurement. The major issue confronting pharmacy practice today is the presence of stark and worrisome gaps in knowledge of pharmacy as a service and product delivery practice.
Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN) defines Satellite Pharmacy as a model of pharmacy practice aimed at making pharmaceutical services available to underserved areas by putting community pharmacies at their door steps, ensuring that patent medicine shops are made to offer better services by being supervised or over sighted by pharmacists.
PCN has said this approach will unleash both more pharmacists and more premises on the beneficiary communities. In addition, the operation of satellite pharmacies would be guided by regulations which have been drafted awaiting approval and gazetting; the body also stated that the scheme has already received Governing Council backing as far back as 2015. When fully operational, satellite pharmacies will unlock the huge but untapped human capacity of pharmacists in areas of practice other than community pharmacies.
How Satellite Pharmacies can improve or increase access to quality pharmaceutical services
* Increased number of pharmacists and a correspondingly larger number of pharmaceutical premises available to underserved, rural or hard to reach areas.
* Improved access to quality medicines and counselling services by pharmacists in the form of pharmaceutical care will be available to the teeming populace.
* A positive collateral effect of these is the opportunity for creation of thousands of new low and middle level jobs for the youth and also reduction of the overhead cost of running retail pharmacies.
The way forward/next steps about Satellite Pharmacies
* The drafting of the enabling regulations and guidelines, which the PCN has done, as well as seeking approval, which is being pursued.
* Encourage entrepreneurs to buy into it by proposing a convincing and profitable business model. This also the PCN is doing along with the ACPN and all the major technical groups.
* A good business model is essential because above all, it is the single most important component that will make sense to investors.
* Infrastructure is another issue. Electricity, good roads and potable water are three key infrastructure requirements that will tremendously boost rural investment. This is where the Government needs to come in either directly or indirectly by creating an enabling environment in terms of security as well as stable financial policies that will boost investment.
* PCN will be carrying out advocacies for improved infrastructure and increased access to affordable loan facilities as ways of achieving the investment goals.
Satellite pharmacy system when carefully put in place as enunciated above will no doubt improve overall access to quality pharmaceutical services when the various components work in synergy.
At the end of the day the Government’s much-needed Universal Health Coverage (UHC) would be very much a reality.
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