The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has expressed reservations with some provisions of the Medical and Dental Council of Nigeria (Repeal & Re-enactment) Bill 2020.
The Chairman of ACPN, Samuel Adekola, in an interview with Daily Trust, said the MDCN Bill 2020 sponsored by the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Ibrahim Yahaya Oloriegbe (APC Kwara Central), was not only draconian and discriminatory against other health professions, but also did not take into cognizance the evolving nature of medicine, pharmacy and other healthcare practices.
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He said the stipulations of the bill in Section 42, that only “registered medical doctors shall take the title of doctor, physician, surgeon, medical practitioner or apothecary” was overbearing and a deliberate act of usurping other citizens’ rights to usage of honorary, educational and professional titles which conferred no additional value to actual practice nor benefitted patients in anyway.
He, therefore, called for the section to be expunged or to exclude the words “doctor or apothecary”, adding that community pharmacists also disagreed with another stipulation in the bill that reserved prescription to only physicians and dentists.
The association also expressed displeasure with the way the public hearing on the bill and four other health bills was handled by Senator Oloriegbe penultimate Monday.
Pharmacist Adekola said a public hearing was meant for stakeholders and the public to speak and make presentations on issues, but that Oloriegbe turned it to a session to lecture attendees and did not allow the requisite health professionals to speak.
He explained that, “He was the one talking on every matter; wasting a lot of time and making it a monologue. He was supposed to come there and listen to what people said and take it back. He did not even allow the Registrar of the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) to talk, because according to him, the Minister of Health had spoken on his behalf.
“So, why invite people to come for the hearing? Why not just tell them to submit memos? That is not the way things are done.”
The ACPN chairman further said it became worrisome when the committee chairman began to harass representatives of health associations and even threatened to use the sergeant at arms to throw them out of the hall.
When contacted, Senator Oloriegbe said that all associations and unions present at the hearing were allowed to speak and make presentations.
He said the allegations were as a result of inter professional rivalry among health professionals, adding that the public hearing was not a platform for unions to play politics.
He explained that, “We allowed everybody to speak. We also received memoranda from them, which I assured them that their views would be accommodated.
“No association or union is denied from expressing its views on the bills. I don’t have any interest except the interest of Nigeria.”
