Pharmacists’ council’s international accreditation will improve health sector – FG

The minister of health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has said the attainment of the International Organisation for Standardisation’s (ISO) certification by the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) is a major achievement that will improve the country’s health regulatory system.

Dr Ehanire stated this during the formal presentation of ISO 9001:2015 certificate awarded the agency by NECA Global Certification Limited, meaning the council has met global standards for pharmacy regulation.

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The minister further said the achievement was recorded through the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the United States Pharmacopeia (USP)/Promoting Quality of Medicines Plus (PQM+).

He added that the attainment of ISO 9001:2015 by PCN would also encourage dynamism, reproducibility of its processes and procedures while ensuring that it was at par with other pharmacy regulatory authorities across the globe.

The registrar of PCN, Pharm Elijah Mohammed, said the council’s journey to the ISO 9001:2015 certification began following the assessment visit by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to Nigeria in June, 2019, for global benchmarking exercise of Nigeria Regulatory Authority (NRA) during which it recommended that PCN should institutionalise Quality Management System (QMS).

He said the organisation integrated its processes and procedures to the requirements of ISO 9001:2015 standards in order to deliver its mandate in a sustainable manner.

He further said the certification had also empowered the council with more ideas on how to carry out its regulatory functions.

Presenting the certificate to PCN, Anne Patterson, USAID mission director, said the achievement would improve the quality of Nigeria’s health system and also save the lives of millions of Nigerians, particularly women and children.

Emily Kaine, senior vice president, Global Health and Manufacturing Service, United States Pharmacopeia (USP), said ISO 9001 was an internationally recognised certification that reflected PCN’s commitment to building strong management systems, ensuring consistent and transparent processes and procedures and continuous improvement.