Renowned Clinical Pharmacist and the immediate past President of the Nigerian Association of Pharmacists and Pharmaceutical Scientists in The Americas (NAPPSA), Dr. Teresa Isichei Pounds, FNAPPSA, SCPAN, has stressed the practical ways of ensuring sustainable healthcare in Nigeria through the pharmaceutical industry.

The pharmaceutical scholar and expert, who is also the President of the West African Society of Parenteral And Enteral Nutrition (WASPEN), a regionally-focused organization committed to the improvement of clinical nutritional care in West Africa through clinician education, research and interdisciplinary medical collaboration, was the Keynote Speaker at the second International Scientific Conference, Eko Akete 2024, of the Clinical Pharmacists Association of Nigeria (CPAN) held recently in Lagos.

Speaking at the conference under the theme “Global Trends In Patient Care: Clinical Pharmacy As A Gateway To Sustainable Healthcare,” Pounds lamented that the healthcare system in Nigeria is facing some challenges “including inadequate infrastructure, limited access to healthcare services.”

“The pharmacists’ vital role in health care system as medication expert and frontline healthcare provider is unrecognised,” she said.

Addressing the participant on part of the description of a clinical pharmacist, the keynote speaker said, “at the forefront of health care transformation, starts clinical pharmacy uniquely positioned to bridge the gap between medical science and patient care through the integration of evidence-based programme, practices, patient education. Clinical pharmacists serve as catalyst for positive health outcomes and sustainable healthcare delivery.”

On the focus of the 2024 CPAN event, she addressed that patient-centred care is still not where it should be, emphasizing that the country’s healthcare is faced with lack of interdisciplinary approach where physicians work together with pharmacists, pharmacists working together for the benefits of the patients.

She furthered that “pharmacists need to have innovative solutions, enhanced communication and collaboration, and capacity building.”

Comparing the pharmaceutical industry in Nigeria with that of the United States, she explained that the environment and resources in the US makes the application of pharmacy better than that of Nigeria, challenging the pharmaceutical professionals on building workforce capacity, continued education programme, residency training and certification programmes, defining the scope of practice, and teamwork.

The immediate past president of NAPPSA related her observation of high cases of malnutrition in Nigeria, which according to her, the wombs of some patients don not heal due to poor nutrition.

Advising the attendees to have good communications system and join professional organisations, Dr. Pounds concluded that “true patient-centred care is made possible through inter-disciplinary collaboration. That is what we must work on here in Nigeria. The main thing we need to work on is interdisciplinary approach and training.”