Pharmacists accuse govt hospitals CEOs of diverting drug funds

The umbrella body of pharmacists in the country, the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has accused Chief Executive Officers of the federal government owned health Institutions of corrupt practices, including the diversion of funds released for procurement of drugs.

The allegations which were contained in a communique signed by the President of PSN, Prof. Cyril Usifoh, and National Secretary, Garfa Madehin, on Wednesday after the 96th annual national conference of the society which was held between October 30 and November 4 in Gombe State, called on the federal government to probe the corrupt cases against the CEOs.

Part of the PSN communique reads:

“The conference called for the probe of corruption against some of the CEOs of the FHIs, whom empirical data confirms, indulge in the procurement of drugs through their proxies in addition to diverting Drug Revolving Funds accruable to identifiable bank accounts that are not official accounts in their institutions.

“The conference called for a special retreat to resuscitate GRF by bringing together the HODs of Pharmacy and the CEOs of all the FHIs with a caveat to mandate the PSN National Executive Council to sponsor the same if the Federal Ministry of Health is interested in such collaboration.”

The PSN also raised an alarm over unregistered drug sellers in the country which it put at more than two million.

“The conference highlighted the unfavourable status quo of over two million unregistered drug sellers, 35 open markets, fake drug syndrome with a high incidence rate of 16 per cent to 48 per cent based on various national and international studies in the last 25 years, the unacceptably high rate of drug abuse involving the use of narcotics and controlled drugs even when the government embarks on what has always been described as insufficient funding of agencies involved with drug distribution in Nigeria.”

The PSN also expressed its concerns over the mortality rate in the health system which it says would surpass the all-time high of 10.8 per cent recorded in 1998 if the funding of the Council continues to be neglected by relevant authorities.

“The conference encouraged government at all levels to make funds available to research-based pharmacists in research institutes, drug research and production units, centre for drug discovery and the pharmacy schools to identify, research, and produce drugs of choice for use in our peculiar environment.

“This is the only way to actualise the concept of universal health coverage with pharmacists as the pivotal point persons,” it added.

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