PSN Lagos condemns NMA’s ultimatum over consultant pharmacist cadre

PSN Lagos condemns NMA’s ultimatum over consultant pharmacist cadre

The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Lagos State Branch, has strongly condemned recent declarations by the Lagos State chapter of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), labeling their communique as aggressive, hostile, and a threat to professional equity in the Nigerian healthcare system.

This development follows a position paper by NMA Lagos expressing dissatisfaction with Chief Executive Officers of two federal health institutions in Lagos who complied with federal circulars implementing the Consultant Pharmacist Cadre.

The NMA Lagos rejected the appointments of Consultant Pharmacists, issuing an ultimatum to the CEOs involved to reverse the appointments or face a potential warning strike by its members in those institutions.

The NMA further mandated its leadership to write to the Federal Ministry of Health, cautioning against the implementation of the Consultant Pharmacist Cadre nationwide and warning other medical directors contemplating similar moves.

In a statement signed by it’s Chairman, PSN Lagos, Babayemi Oyekunle, it criticized the NMA’s stance as a continuation of a long-standing culture of “medical elitism” and “institutional arrogance,” which it says undermines the collaborative ethos of modern healthcare.

According to the PSN, the idea that only physicians should be eligible for specialist recognition contradicts international standards. Consultant Pharmacists, it argued, have long been recognized in the health systems of the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, and even parts of Africa such as South Africa, Ghana, and Sierra Leone.

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The PSN Lagos insisted that the Consultant Pharmacist Cadre enhances patient safety, medication management, and chronic disease treatment, stressing that global healthcare systems emphasize interdisciplinary collaboration and task-sharing models to achieve universal health coverage. It accused the NMA Lagos of relying on unproven rhetoric instead of data to support its opposition to Consultant Pharmacists, calling such tactics amateurish and baseless.

Providing historical context, the PSN detailed the approval process of the Consultant Pharmacist Cadre, dating back to 2011 when the National Council of Establishment (NCE) first approved the cadre. The NCE reaffirmed its position in 2020, leading to a series of circulars from the Office of the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation (HCSF), which provided detailed guidelines for implementation.

Despite this, the PSN lamented the continued resistance from some quarters, including state-level sabotage. The association accused the Lagos State Ministry of Health of attempting to undermine pharmacists by altering designations and restricting leadership positions in proposed agencies to physicians, contrary to existing laws such as the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria (PCN) Act, 2022.

The PSN also referenced attempts to rebrand the Lagos State College of Medicine as a medical university, potentially excluding other health professionals from leadership positions. These moves, it argued, form part of a systemic campaign to dominate the healthcare space at the expense of inclusivity and competence.

The PSN Lagos, vowed to continue advocating for equity in the health sector and warned that it would not hesitate to respond in full force, alongside other stakeholders, if the federal government yields to what it described as the NMA’s “theatrics.” It called on well-meaning Nigerians to resist attempts to stifle other health professions and to demand a just and collaborative approach to healthcare reform.

 

PSN Lagos condemns NMA’s ultimatum over consultant pharmacist cadre