Pharmacists under the umbrella of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) have insisted that establishing a National Postgraduate College of Pharmacy in the country remains key to solving the worsening workforce crisis in the nation’s pharmaceutical sector.
ACPN posited that the dearth of specialist pharmacists in manufacturing, clinical pharmacy, community pharmacy, public health pharmacy and other critical areas should be of concern to federal government, saying that a Postgraduate College of Pharmacy was of utmost need for the training of undergraduate and post-graduate pharmacists for the nation’s health system.
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the ACPN 45th Annual National Scientific Conference in Abuja recently, National Chairman, Pharm. Ezeh Ambrose Igwekamma, stressed the need to have the institution in the country as only the West Africa Postgraduate College of Pharmacists (WAPCP) handles this training at the sub-regional level.
According to him, ‘’most countries including Ghana, abandoned the WAPCP for their home college, such that only Nigeria funds the subsidy gap of over 95 per cent to nurture the sub-regional college in forex.’’
He warned that Nigeria’s pharmaceutical sector would continue to face specialist pharmacists in hospital, clinical, manufacturing, community, public health and pharmaceutical administration if urgent steps were not taken to establish a Postgraduate College of Pharmacy in the country.
