Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN) has demanded that National Council for Establishment (NCE) should guarantee full enactment of the Pharmacists Consultant Cadre which was approved decade ago in Nigeria.
President, PSN, Cyril Usifoh in a memo signed and made available to BusinessDay by him, recalled that NCE approved and gave its final affirmation to the Pharmacists Consultant Cadre in August 2011 and November, 2019, correspondingly.
According to PSN, only the UCH, Ibadan and about two other FHIs as well as the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria have complied with the circular of the OHCSF and the FMOH to implement the new scheme.
While announcing NCE forth coming meeting which is scheduled to take place in Abuja between January 24 and 29, 2022, PSN lauded the NCE for its honesty and assiduousness which facilitated the August, 2011 approval and stressed the need for the Council to intervene for the immediate implementation of the approved scheme.
The society in the memo which titled, ‘Memo to all members of the National Council of Establishment, Consultant Pharmacist Cadre: Matters Arising,’ alleged that some key chieftains of the Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) have connived with the CEOs of the Federal Health Institutions (FHIs) in order to disturb the full implementation of the Pharmacist Consultant Cadre.
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PSN maintained that the Pharmacists Consultant Cadre has been a tortuous path to travel from 2011 till date despite the flawless process that engendered its approval.
The memo further explained that the salary structure for pharmacists is the Consolidated Health Salary Structure (CONHESS) and added that the Consultant Pharmacists are entitled to be paid relevant allowances including Specialist Allowance.
On the other hand, PSN in the memo claimed that the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) in a petition addressed to the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, protested against the approval of the Pharmacists Consultant Cadre.
According to the society, prominent stakeholders in the Health Sector including PSN and JOHESU responded by putting issues in perspective in their well-informed position papers to the SGF.
These events, the memo revealed, compelled the SGF to refer the various positions to the FMOH for comments and a formal response.
“We sound a note of caution yet again that the NMA is a professional association like many other existing associations in the health sector. It is not an employer of labour, regulatory body or autonomous organ of government which dictates what the benefit packages of any group of stakeholders in the health sector should or should not be in arithmetical or other known measures.
“We call on the NCE to stop the propensities of professional groups who are aided by godfathers in the establishment to seek professional development for their kith and kin, but recommend stagnation in knowledge base for all others concerned contrary to global best practice in health care. It is our belief that the NCE will stop discrimination against citizens by taking a firm stand to reinforce the implementation of the circulars of the OHCSF and FMOH,” he said.
