By Doris Obinna
Pharma-ceutical Society of Nige-ria (PSN) has expressed worry over the pro-posed establishment of a National Health Facility Regulatory Agen-cy (NHFRA), expected to play a pivotal role in ensuring that healthcare facilities across Nigeria adhere to the highest standards of care.
The initiative was champi-oned by the Minister of State for Health, Dr. Tunji Alausa, and PSN objected that the NHFRA would be in conflict with existing regulatory frameworks, particularly in the pharmaceuti-cal sector.
In a letter signed by its president, Prof. Cyril Usifoh, and addressed to the Minister of Justice and Attor-ney General of the Federation, Mr. Lateef Fagbemi, PSN criticised and kicked against the NHFRA and called for di-alogue and consideration of its implications for the healthcare sector.
It reiterated that the regulation of pharmacy services operates independently from broader healthcare facility regulators in the United Kingdom and United States.
PSN said the move underscores the critical role of the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) while outlining the historical context of pharmacy regulation in Nigeria added that merging the PCN with the pro-posed NHFRA could dilute its regulatory authority.
“For emphasis, the PCN occupies a similar regulatory position as this specialized pharmacy bodies in the United Kingdom and the United States. Established by PCN (Establishment) Act 2022, the PCN is a federal government parastatal charged with the responsibility of regulating and controlling pharmacy education, training and practice in all aspects and ramifications, including regulating Pharmacy Technicians and Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendor (PPMVs).”
It argued that the PCN has devel-oped a robust structure, with state offices across Nigeria and a trained workforce capable of effectively regulating pharmacy practices while point-ing out that the NHFRA would not adequately address existing regulatory gaps, particularly concerning tertiary health insti-tutions noted that currently, these facilities, including teaching hospitals and federal medical centres, lack suf-ficient oversight.
While calling for increased fund-ing for the PCN and the National Agency for Food and Drug Admin-istration and Control (NAFDAC), Usifoh added that adequate funding is essential for these organisations to enhance their operational capabilities and improve health outcomes nation-wide
The PSN, which further calls for careful consideration of the NHFRA proposal reflects a broad-er concern within the healthcare sector about the need for effec-tive governance and regulation, believes that main-taining a separate and empowered regulatory body for pharmacy is essential to achieving these objec-tives and ensuring high standards of pharmaceutical care across the nation.
The letter reads in part: “The federal government is invited to activate the necessary templates to establish the regulatory commission that will regulate tertiary hospitals at the federal level which is the major area of deficiency in the regulatory landscape in our sector.
“If the federal government also wants the equivalent of Care Quality Commission (CQC) in the U.K or the Joint Commission in the USA, Section 1 of the National Health Act which provides for the establishment of a National Health System which regulate health services is more than enough to meet that objectives if nothing sinister or ulterior is not the ultimate target.
“The Federal Ministry of Health should leverage on the existing status-quo that has ensured some relative peace in the health sector by jettisoning any move that will stir the hornets’ nest, as any agenda bordering on a centralized health regulatory facility agency will be grounded in immediate suspicion which will jeopardize our fragile peace and this will definitely be resisted by stakeholders.
“We however insist that the methodology to achieve this must be grounded in justice and fair play to all concerned.”
