With creativity and good planning, pharmacists can create jobs . According to experts, pharmacists worth their salt should not be jobless because the profession is full of potential. Many graduates are unemployed. The reason is because there are no jobs whether at home or abroad. In fact, getting a job has become a huge task as the economy dips further. The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) puts the unemployment rate at over 60 per cent, signalling danger to the economy. Despite these uncertainties, job opportunities abound for pharmacists. An integral part of medical science, pharmacy is broad and can help grow the economy. Experts said pharmacists have a wide range of job’ opportunities to choose from and earn a living, once they can explore them. They said pharmacists play crucial roles in the healthcare delivery system, adding that those that know their onions would always get jobs to do.

 

Former President, Neimeth Pharmaceutical International, Mazi Ohuabunwa, said pharmacists could only be jobless if they did not know what they are doing. He said pharmacists have acquired skills that would help them in getting jobs. He said pharmacy offers room for creativity, advising people to use their professional or technical skills to an advantage. He said pharmacy can be divided into clinical, community and trade, arguing that jobs can be created from the three areas. He said clinical pharmacy enables people to work in maternity centres and hospitals, among others for growth.

 

Ohuabunwa said: “Under clinical pharmacy, people are required to work in the hospitals. Such people give out medications to patients. They complement the work of medical doctors, offering advise where necessary. They help in explaining in simpler terms the meaning, composition of drugs, their usage and side effects, among others. It is not compulsory that such pharmacists must work full-time in teaching or general hospitals before they can earn a living. They can work on part-time as well. There are thousands of dispensary and maternity centres that need their services.” He said pharmacists can acquire experience over time, urging them to start from small hospitals before moving to bigger ones. The development, he said, would help them in getting better jobs. On community pharmacy, Ohabunwa said practitioners are required to open shops and sell drugs. They also offer first aids, and advise people on drugs. He said opportunities abound in community pharmacy, arguing that they have not been fully exploited. He said hospitals recommend people to community pharmacists because they know they offer good services.

 

“This is where pharmacists have an edge over unregistered seller of drugs. In any community where community pharmacists are, they are sure of getting customers because of their expertise. People are now afraid of patronising ‘Merchants of Death’ or people simply referred to as fake drug peddlers. The market at the community level is big, and requires many players. The market is inexhaustible because people would always buy drugs. No matter the number of pharmaceutical shops in a community, they would get customers once they are selling genuine drugs. The more the pharmaceutical shops, the better for the community. “There is no 100 per cent assurance that Shop’A’ would have all the drugs needed by patients. What shop ‘A’ may have, Shop ’B’ may not have. There is what we call ‘Variability in cost, names and the usage of drugs. For instance, drugs have different brands. If a patient failed to get the prescribed drugs from ‘ Shop A’, he or she is obliged to go to ‘Shop B’ to get the drugs at cheaper prices.” He said pharmacists can open shops with small money, and expand their business later. Under trade pharmacy, Ohuabunwa said pharmacists can work as suppliers, distributors or exporters of drugs. He said the cost of supplying, distributing and exporting drugs varies, urging pharmacists to choose the area where they can operate well. He advised pharmacists to go to manufacturers, get the list of drugs, negotiate with them, and distribute the drugs for a fee.

 

Ohuabunwa, who was a former Vice Chairman, Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN), Ikeja Branch said opportunities abound for people that want to go to into pharmacy, adding that such people can sell drugs online or through other means. According to him, research has shown that pharmacists can create over 50,000 online jobs for themselves. He said online drugs trading is growing, advising people to tap into the opportunities offered by the Information Communication and Technology (ICT).

 

Also, a pharmacist with TAOT Associates Limited, Oyawole Bola, said people can create jobs by going community pharmacy. He advises pharmacists to explore opportunities in rural areas to create jobs. He said pharmacists are needed in rural areas to provide services to people, urging the unemployed to go to those areas and do something. “The primary healthcare delivery system is poor in rural areas. We need more people to provide community pharmacy service. There is a big market in the urban, semi-urban and rural areas for community pharmacists. Pharmacists who go to rural areas to render neighbourhood services would develop and expand their businesses because of its huge market. With time, such pharmacists would become employers of labour.” he added.

 

According to him, pharmacists have a lot to benefit from the nation’s petrochemical industry. The industry, Bola said, offers numerous opportunities for pharmacists who are ready to work. He urged pharmacists to take advantage of the country’s’ petrochemical industry for growth, noting that they can work directly or indirectly in the industry. He said raw materials used for drugs are derived from petrochemicals, adding that pharmacists can work in the industry as analysts, processors, among others. ‘’Pharmacists would get more jobs once the government can provide infrastructure that would aid the growth of petrochemical industry. If the petrochemical industry has been developed to a level where we can produce enough raw materials for drugs manufacturers, the better for the healthcare system and the pharmacists. Active pharmaceutical ingredients are derived from petrochemicals. Once the drug’ producers are able to get enough raw materials from the industry, they would operate well,’’ he added. He said many pharmacists are unemployed because they are not proactive, adding that the development has made many to lose touch with the profession.

 

Recently, Minister of Health Prof Onyebuchi Chukwu advised health service providers to look inwards and create jobs. He said the sector has a lot of potentials, noting that millions of jobs can be created across board given a conducive economic environment. He said thousands of jobs can be created from medicine, nursing and pharmacy. Also, former Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) Prof Dora Akunyili said there was a big market for orthodox and traditional drugs, advising pharmacists to take advantage of the opportunity. Akunyili, a former Minister of Information, also said there is a fusion of orthodox and traditional medicine globally, urging pharmacists not to be cut unaware if they want to grow. She advised pharmacists to conduct research on herbs, process them and come out with alternative drugs to make money. She said once the research is based on empherical evidence, pharmacists would come with good drugs and make money

 

By AKINOLA AJIBADE

The Nation