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The President of PSN, Prof. Cyril Usifoh who made this known at a press conference in Lagos yesterday, also said 803 pharmacists collected letters of good standing from the Council in 2021, basically to leave the country, adding that as a professor in the university he signs an average of about three to five references for younger colleagues that are leaving the country to work abroad.
The president of PSN therefore urged both the federal and state governments to reconfigure the health architecture in the country in a bid to keep hold of the manpower the country is losing in droves.
Usifo spoke during a press conference to announce the 95th Annual National Scientific Conference of the PSN tagged ‘Tin City 2022 scheduled to hold in Jos from October 31 to November 4, with the theme ‘Medicine Security in an Unstable Economy’.
Against the backdrop of this massive migration of pharmacists, Usifoh said, “When expressed in terms of the pharmacists component, there are 0.07 pharmacists to 1,000 or one pharmacist to over 14,000 Nigerians, whereas, according to the WHO, the acceptable and recommended ratio of pharmacists to the population is one pharmacist to 2,000 of the population.”
Similarly, the WHO recommended ratio of healthcare workers to the population is 23 to 1,000 while in Nigeria, it is an abysmal 1.95 to 1,000. This is for the entire health workforce.
Usifoh said the migration of pharmacists for greener pastures comes in addition to the retirement of pharmacists from the public sector leading to depletion of the workforce in the Department of Pharmaceutical Services in various institutions.
While calling for the replacement of pharmacists who have either left the country or retired, the president of PSN lamented that most pharmacists in the public sector are not allowed to reach level 17, which is the peak of their career. “This non advancement to the zenith of their careers has led to incessant dampening of morale of public sector pharmacists,” he said.
“We request for the promotion of pharmacists to level 17 as it is being done to other professionals in the public service across board.”
Similarly, Usifoh called for the review of the current scheme of service for pharmacists which he noted came into existence in 2005 and is long overdue for review.