Pharmacy First: ACPN Wants Pharmacies to Ease Pressure on Nigerian Hospitals.

 

• Pharmacy First: ACPN Wants Pharmacies to Ease Pressure on Nigerian Hospitals.

The Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria, ACPN, has called for a major rethink of Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system, urging the Federal Government to formally position community pharmacies as frontline primary healthcare centres capable of handling defined basic health needs before patients proceed to hospitals.

 

The proposal, known as the Pharmacy First Initiative, could potentially change the traditional pattern in which many Nigerians head directly to secondary and tertiary hospitals for health conditions that may be managed appropriately at the primary-care level.

 

ACPN argues that properly integrating qualified community pharmacies into primary healthcare could bring essential services closer to Nigerians while reducing pressure on overstretched hospitals.

 

The association wants the Federal Government to approve specific investments in the Pharmacy First Initiative as part of efforts to strengthen Primary Healthcare and advance Universal Health Coverage.

 

According to ACPN, community pharmacies are strategically positioned because of their proximity to patients and their accessibility within communities.

 

The association said government should structure qualified community pharmacies to provide defined primary healthcare services, including improved access to essential medicines and management of uncomplicated health conditions within pharmacists’ professional competence.

 

Under the proposed model, community pharmacists would move beyond their conventional medicine-dispensing role to provide more structured preventive and primary-care services.

 

These could include basic screening for non-communicable diseases such as hypertension and diabetes, medication counselling and health education.

 

ACPN also envisages pharmacy-based services providing counselling and advocacy in areas including malaria, antenatal care, family planning, smoking cessation and general wellness.

 

The association stressed that such services must remain within pharmacists’ professional competence and should be properly documented to generate reliable healthcare data.

 

Its proposal effectively seeks to establish community pharmacies as accessible first-contact points for appropriate cases, with patients requiring more complex diagnosis or treatment referred to other healthcare professionals and facilities.

 

ACPN believes this could allow secondary and tertiary hospitals to devote more resources to patients who genuinely require specialised care.

 

The pharmacists’ position is particularly significant against the backdrop of challenges facing Nigeria’s healthcare system, including pressure on public hospitals and difficulties experienced by many citizens in accessing timely primary healthcare.

 

ACPN has previously said community pharmacies remain an underutilised healthcare resource because of their widespread presence and accessibility.

 

The association is consequently calling for stronger policy recognition, regulatory support, sustainable financing and collaboration between community pharmacies and the wider healthcare system.

 

Its advocacy also draws attention to the potential role of pharmacies in early disease detection.

 

Routine blood pressure and blood glucose checks, for instance, could identify people at risk of hypertension or diabetes before complications develop and require more expensive hospital treatment.

 

The association has also emphasised the importance of digital transformation and systematic documentation, arguing that information generated through pharmacy-based services could contribute to evidence-based healthcare planning.

 

ACPN identified policy and political leadership, evidence and digital transformation, quality improvement and collaboration among the gaps that must be addressed if community pharmacy is to play a bigger role in patient-centred care.

 

The association is also looking to international experience, particularly England’s Pharmacy First model.

 

Under England’s National Health Service, participating community pharmacies provide consultations and treatment for specified common conditions, providing another route to care without patients necessarily beginning at general practice or hospital services.

 

ACPN believes aspects of such models can be adapted to Nigeria’s circumstances rather than simply copied wholesale.

 

It has therefore called on President Bola Tinubu’s administration and state governments to consider reforms capable of integrating qualified community pharmacies more effectively into primary healthcare.

 

The association also renewed its demand for the establishment of a Presidential Committee on the pharmaceutical sector to examine the Pharmacy First proposal and other reforms affecting medicines and pharmaceutical services.

 

For ACPN, the argument is no longer simply about giving pharmacists additional responsibilities.

 

It is about redesigning the patient’s entry point into Nigeria’s healthcare system.

 

If backed by clear regulations, defined professional responsibilities, effective referral systems, appropriate financing and strong patient-safety standards, the proposed Pharmacy First Initiative could create another access point for basic healthcare while enabling hospitals to concentrate more heavily on complicated and specialist cases.

 

The Federal Government has yet to announce adoption of the ACPN proposal.

 

The debate will therefore centre on whether policymakers consider community pharmacies an adequately regulated and sustainable component of a broader primary healthcare strategy—and what safeguards would be necessary before such an expanded model could operate nationwide.