Noah Ebije. Kaduna
Medical Health Practitioners in the country have recommended the inclusion of community pharmacists and patent medicines vendors in the new Task Shifting and Task Sharing Policy of the federal government.
The policy which was developed in 2014 is due for review in the current year.
The experts say when this is done; the implementation of the TSTS Policy would increase from the current 30 percent to 90 percent thereby improving access to quality Primary Health Care Services in the country.
The Task Shifting and Task Sharing (TSTS) Policy was developed and rolled out for implementation in 2014 in the bid by the Federal Government to ensure Universal Access to Quality Health Care Services,.
The experts brainstormed at a policy dialogue workshop organised by the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria-Partnership for Advocacy in Child and Family Health at Scale (PSN-PACFaH@Scale) project and the Kaduna State Ministry of Health and Human Services in Kaduna, Wednesday.
Senior Program Officer of the NGO, Edwin Oyoma Akpotor explained that one of the strategies presented by the government for the achievement of the goal is to expand access to family planning and other primary healthcare services through the non-clinical private providers-Community Pharmacists and Patent Medicines Vendors.
This he said is because in a recent Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS 2013) which is due for review in 2018, it was discovered that about 60% of Nigerians obtained their contraceptives from the private sector through the services of community pharmacists and patent medicine vendors while only 30% was obtained from the public sector.
He said based on this statistics, there is need for the government of Nigeria and other relevant stakeholders to ensure Essential Primary Health Care Services are Task Shifted or Task Shared with Community Pharmacists and Patent Medicine Vendors bearing in mind their unique contribution.
Kaduna State commissioner for health, Dr. Paul Manya Dogo in his address said the role of patent medicine vendors and community pharmacists in the health sector should not be underrated.
He advised the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) to be keeping data on the activities of vendors in the country
He said since the patent medicine vendors and community pharmacists can be found in most parts of the country, their activities should be monitored closely to pave way for positive relationship with other stakeholders in the sector.
‘I am excited seeing patent vendors with pharmacists on this occasion, it is good because we are targeting one goal,” he stated.
END.
Click here to Reply, Reply to all, or Forward
4.87 GB (32%) of 15 GB used
Manage
Terms – Privacy
Last account activity: 16 minutes ago
Details