The Pharmacists Council of Nigeria on Friday inducted 105 graduands of the Dora Akunyili College of Medicine, Igbinedion University, Okada.
Inducting the graduands, Elijah Mohammed, Registrar of the council, said that PCN was aware of challenges posed to pharmacists by various dynamics.
Mohammed said some of the dynamics include practice, technological advancements, increasing disease burdens, adverse drug reactions, drug interactions and drug resistance, among others.
He noted that pursuant to the foregoing, the PCN has institutionalised the Continued Professional Development programme to ensure relevance of pharmacists in the scheme of events in the health sector and governance in general.
Mohammed, however, stressed that pharmacy competency was not only about knowledge and skills, adding that competency should include critical thinking and decision making as well as innovation and social interaction.
He expressed joy that the recent Doctor of Pharmacy programme approved by the National University Commission in August 2016 has taken effect.
The registrar explained that implication of that was that the Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) Degree Curriculum would be undergoing a major transformation in line with PCN guidelines and NUC recommendations.
He also said that the graduands were expected to acquaint themselves with the code of professional ethics which prescribes their professional and moral responsibilities to the patients, pharmacists’ college as well as other professionals.
He emphasised that strict compliance to the code of ethics was indispensable for the practice of pharmacy profession.
Earlier, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae, Vice Chancellor of the institution, urged the graduands to do better than their predecessors as they have been given the best training.
He explained that this is more so as the practice of the profession was changing not just in Nigeria, but Africa at large.
Osaghae noted that the course required growing capacity; hence the university has decided to give automatic employment to the five best graduating students.
He said, so far, the institution has graduated 620 pharmacists from the college.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the 2016/2017 academic session induction ceremony is the 7th by the institution.
NAN also reports that a keynote address, themed: “Community Pharmacy Practice”, was delivered by Lawrence Ifebigh, Chief Executive Officer, Ladith Pharmaceuticals Limited.
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