THE newly appointed Registrar of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN), Bruno Nwankwo, in his inaugural address to the Council on Tuesday November 26, 2013, has promised to improve the quality of pharmacy training and practice in Nigeria. 

      Nwankwo at the inaugural session of the newly inaugurated board of the PCN proposed to pursue actions necessary to enhance the curriculum and other changes required by faculties of Pharmacy to offer the Pharm. D. programme and other courses that will upgrade the knowledge, skills and competences of the Nigerian graduate.

     He also proposed to improve the relevance of the Mandatory Continuing Professional Development (MCPD) as an update programme for the Nigerian pharmacist by catering to the peculiar knowledge and skills needs of pharmacists in the various areas of practice.

     Nwankwo, who is also a fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) said he plans to organise and equip the regulatory section of Council to regularly and routinely monitor practice in hospital and community pharmacies, industrial premises and academic institutions in order to enforce the Code of Conduct and Good Pharmacy Practice Guidelines. He said due sanctions will be promptly applied as necessary.

     The pharmacist promised to follow up on efforts to review and rationalise all laws pertaining to the practice of pharmacy and examine the adequacy of the structure and organisation of the Council for its tasks and take actions to assure optimal performance. 

     He said due to the funds implications of the various actions proposed, Council should seek to improve revenue generation through a realistic review of all statutory fees payable for its services.

  Nwankwo further explained, “in my view, the mission of our Council is to improve the quality of pharmacy training and practice in Nigeria. This, of course, must be pursued in the context of our enabling law, which among others assigns the following responsibilities to the Council.

 

 

    “Determining the standards of knowledge and skills to be attained by persons seeking to become registered members of the Pharmacy profession (in the law referred to as the profession) and reviewing the skills from time to time as circumstances may require. 

   “Reviewing and preparing from time to time a statement as to the Code of Conduct, which the Council considers desirable for the practice of the Pharmacy profession.

   “Regulating and controlling the practice of the pharmacy profession in all it aspects and ramifications.

     “Our vision should be evolved around the above and the improvements we seek will result from appropriate strategies which we develop as a Council.”

    Nwankwo said a dispassionate assessment of pharmacy in Nigeria suggests that the pharmacist has an identity/attitude problem which could be tackled through training, work psyche improvements and a good patient / pharmacist relationship.

 

     “The pharmacy student should be given the skills to produce, dispense/sell and monitor the use of drugs and effectively advise the patient on their rational use. This demands strict discipline and duty of care. It is no small responsibility but one the practitioner must exercise with dignity, self–confidence and pride,” he said. 

        Nwankwo added, “in underdeveloped economies like ours, while it is desirable to think big and be apprised of the global situation, we should take small achievable steps and progressively move towards the ultimate goal.”

     He said in view of the large size of Council, they will work through committees in order to improve our productivity and reasonably reduce meeting time of full Council. 

    “Assignment to the various committees will be presented as well as their responsibilities. Members are advised to shed the cloak of their practice areas and think pharmacy in our Council deliberations so that we can progressively move our profession forward to attain its full potential.”

     Nwankwo concluded, “dear Colleagues, I have shared my thoughts on how I see our task in the next three years. I seek your cooperation and support to deliberately work for our success. I do not under estimate the assignment we face but I believe that we are a good team to deliver results.