Healthcare professionals with community practice in focus under the aegis of Troop Pharmacy, have extended their professional services to a suburb part of Lagos state in Ikeja.
Healthcare professionals with community practice in focus under the aegis of Troop Pharmacy, have extended their professional services to a suburb part of Lagos state in Ikeja.
They have opened a pharmacy in the heart of the neighbourhood, and said this was borne out of the need to extend quality healthcare, affordable medication and professional services to all nooks and crannies of the country.
The healthcare givers offered seminars on various health matters and held free eyes and blood tests to residents in the neighbourhood during the official opening of the pharmacy on Friday.
“Consulting a pharmacist and professional healthcare providers should be the order of practice,” said Pharmacist Anderline Dukor, during the public enlightenment forum. “instead of consuming herbal medicines that have not been certified by the regulatory agencies, which is very risky.” she warned.
She continued, “Though, there are herbals that are effective but, those herbals must be prepared properly. Even in the Pharmacy we have some herbals that have been capsulated. And the pharmacists have calculated the quantity people can take.”
“If we must take herbals, I would want us to go for those that have been validated by regulatory agencies and have been tried on experimental animals. It is better to take the right medicines than taking medicines that will land us where we don’t want to be,” Dukor advised.
Also, an Optometrist, Dr Chidinma Ugwu of Viewpoint Specialist Eye Hospital said it was important people go for regular eye test to detect if they have contracted glaucoma and other eyes diseases.
“Regular eye test will ensure early detection of glaucoma and other eyes diseases which will in turn smooth the treatment process. Glaucoma is no respecter of age, it can be contracted by both young and old people,” Ugwu said.
She added that regular exercise and eating balanced diets could help check glaucoma.
Earlier, Pharmacist Chizomam Emeje, Managing Director of Troop Pharmaceuticals Ltd advised the industry regulators to ensure enabling environment that will make Nigerians to have access to quality and affordable medications seamlessly. and irrespective of their locations.
She said government intervention on quality and affordable medications, will go along way to support efforts from professional health practitioners.
“The problem is that many of our drugs are imported. Labour cost is killing efforts to locally manufactured medications. For most medications, we have to go out there mostly to India to import. Besides, there is still lack of infrastructure and the problem of multiple taxation. And it is like we are saying the same thing every time but what are we doing about it?,” she queried.
“So, I believe it has to do with governance, and implementation of government policies. We have good policies, but the implementation remains the problem. This makes it affect a lot of things and the health sector suffers; the poor man suffers and finds it difficult to access professional services,” she said.
Speaking more on the rationale for extending Troop pharmacy to Ikeja axis, she said, “We have been into community practice for about 22 years and we believe that we should extend the good and professional services Okota residents have enjoyed to Ikeja. And we have given it all its professional and ambient atmosphere because anything worth doing is worth doing well and we have emphasis on excellence.
“I believe people should take advantage of having a pharmacist in their vicinity and patronise them instead of running to over the counter chemists. This also speaks to the level of public education to decipher between a doctor, pharmacist and chemist. We really need awareness in this area; we are here to bring professional services and counseling to this neighborhood and not just to sell drugs.”
According to Prof. Simon Emeje, Chairman , Courier and Logistics Management Institute (CLMI), and friend to the neighbourhood the pharmacists should be seen as assets to the area.
“Extension of healthcare professional service should be seen as an asset to a given neighborhood. The pharmacy has a group of professionals. They are not traders but they are professionals as far as health issue is concern. The interest is about caring for the health of the people and that is the service that has been brought to this place,” he said.
