The Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria, PCN, has disclosed that the country lacks sufficient pharmacists, lamenting that there are fewer licensed and practising pharmacists in-country.
The registrar of the council, Elija Mohammed, disclosed at a media interactive forum organised by the Nigeria Health Watch and some members of a consortium in Abuja.
According to him, the majority of young women obtain their Family Planning, FP, methods from Community Pharmacists, CPs, and Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors, PPMVs.
Mr Mohammed said: “The National Bureau of Statistics discloses that there is indeed 1 pharmacist for every 10,000 Nigerians even though in actual fact there are fewer licensed and practising pharmacists in-country.
“The status of the primary healthcare system as at today has created an overburden on the private health sector and made more prominent the informal healthcare.
“The Community Pharmacies (CPs) and Patent and Proprietary Medicine Vendors (PPMVs) shops are usually the first points of accessing primary health care (PHC) for the most Nigerian populace.
“This situation is more pronounced in the rural and underserved areas.
“The private sector accounts for 58% of health services provision, including child-related health services, with drug shops and pharmacists comprising 40% of the private healthcare sector and 83% of all child health care services in Nigeria,” he added.