By Doris Obinna
Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), has criticised the Federal Government for failing to stem the soaring cost of medicines and for imposing what he described as an unjust salary structure in the health sector.
Speaking at the Scientific Week in Lagos on Thursday, Chairman, PSN Lagos, Oyekunle Babayemi, said President Bola Tinubu’s 2024 executive order intended to lower drug prices has failed, with Nigerians now paying more for medicines amid scarcity of life-saving drugs.
He attributed the crisis to policies of regulatory agencies, particularly National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), which he accused of introducing multiple Good Manufacturing Practice (GPM) inspection fees, frustrating product registration timelines, and proposing a costly track-and-trace policy that could raise drug prices by up to 85 percent.
He urged the President to set up a pharmaceutical sector committee headed by a pharmacist, insisting that “a physician cannot successfully administer drug management and control.”
On the August 19 circular issued by the National Salaries, Income and Wages Commission, Babayemi said the new wage structure was both unlawful and immoral as it entrenched undue relativities in favour of doctors while shortchanging other health professionals. He noted that the arrangement distorted the CONHESS scale and risked truncating the professional growth of non-physician health workers.
Babayemi said the Joint Health Sector Unions (JOHESU) and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Associations (AHPA) have rejected the circular and may declare a nationwide strike if the government fails to suspend it. He added that organised labour had been briefed and may escalate the matter to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), accusing government of allowing the Nigerian Medical Association to wield excessive influence over health sector policies.
He warned that unless government acts quickly, industrial peace in the health sector could collapse, with dire consequences for the nation’s healthcare delivery.
