The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria has urged the Senate to stop the proposed National Health Facility Regulatory Agency Bill, arguing that it would duplicate existing health regulatory structures and “jeopardise” the “fragile peace” within Nigeria’s health sector.
The association made this prayer in a letter addressed to the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, and signed by its National Chairman, Ambrose Ezeh.
The letter, titled “Stop the National Health Facility Regulatory Agency (NHFRA) Bill in National Interest,” and shared with PUNCH Healthwise, asserted that the National Health Act of 2014 already provides for the regulation of health facilities and professionals in Nigeria, making the proposed agency unnecessary.
Ezeh maintained that instead of the proposed legislation seeking to create a new agency, gaps in the existing structure should be addressed through the implementation of the Act.
The association traced the regulatory history of healthcare practice in Nigeria, noting that pharmacy and drug matters fall under the Exclusive Legislative List, which empowers only the National Assembly to make laws on the subject, while other health professions are regulated under separate councils.
