GOVT URGES PROFESSIONALS TO BE PROACTIVE

The Delta State Government has called on health professionals in the state to be
proactive in the monitoring of drugs against adverse effects on patients.

The Commissioner for Health, Dr. Joseph Otumara, made the call at a three-day
training the trainers’ workshop on Pharmacovigilance by his Ministry in
conjunction with the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and
Control (NAFDAC) in Asaba.

The Commissioner who was represented by the functioning Permanent Secretary in the
Ministry, Dr. Micheal Omatshola, said the workshop on pharmacovigilance was
informed by the critical desire of the both the federal and state government to
curtail preventable deaths and permanent damage in patients that could result
from adverse drug reaction.

 
Giving a brief historical account on the birth of pharmacovigilance training in the states
across the country, Dr. Otumara disclosed that the journey began in February
2013 when the policy and implementation framework earlier approved by the
National Council on Health was launched in 2012, saying that it was aimed at
ensuring timely report of adverse drug reaction cases to its national center
domiciled in NAFDAC.

While saying that Delta was the first state to key into the establishment of
pharmacovigilance units in its health facilities, he enjoined private and
public health care providers, traditional medicine practioners and the general
public to make it a duty to timely and routinely report such adverse reactions
in drug usage by patients to avoid recurrence. 

In her welcome address, the Director of Pharmaceutical Services in the State Ministry of
Health, Mrs. Kate Ekonye, said serious adverse reactions could lead to
hospitalization, adding that worst case scenario was death.

She therefore called on participants to optimize the knowledge gained at the end of the
workshop for the benefit of those they would transfer the knowledge to and the
public in general.

The representative of the Director General of NAFDAC, Pharmacist Cassandra
Alagbaje, thanked the Ministry of Health for keying into the programme of
training health professionals on pharmaco vigilance, expressing hope that the
participants would be better equipped to address cases of adverse drug reaction
in patients.

In an interview, the representative of the Permanent Secretary in the Hospitals
Management Board, Dr. Fumilayo Omoraka, who gave an overview on the essence of
the workshop, said it was to   enlighten participants on how to identify
cases of adverse drug reaction, appropriate channels to register such cases and
how to recognize patients experiencing adverse drug reaction.

Some participants said the ongoing workshop had exposed them to clear guidance
concerning drugs, detection of adverse cases, its documentation and proper
channels to report such cases.