‘National Emergency Treatment C’ttee Without Pharmacists, An Aberration’

National Emergency Treatment Committee (NEMTC) without a pharmacist is an aberration capable of undermining the objective of the project, the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) has said.

ACPN, the umbrella body of all registered Community Pharmacists in Nigeria described the 27-man committee without a Pharmacist, as not only an error but also erodes the very importance of pharmacists in the country’s health care delivery.

In a petition to the Federal Ministry of Health, the association which is an affiliate of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) observed that the composition of the Committee approved by the National Council on Health was lopsided as of the 27 members, 13 were Medical Doctors and the rest representing various agencies of government and professional bodies.

Describing the exclusion of Pharmacists from such an important and sensitive national assignment as an aberration, ACPN argued that it viewed the National Emergency Medical Committee as part of the “unending subjugation of other health professionals to the whims and caprices of Doctors in the health system of our country.”

“In the very minimum, an Emergency Medical Treatment Committee would have at least a Pharmacist who coordinates drug use endeavours in the Committee since over 90% of the rescue efforts in a Health/Medical emergency ultimately revolves around the handling of drugs which remains the lawful prerogative of Registered Pharmacists by virtue of the Pharmacy Act and the National Drug Policy,” the body argued.