…. MAPOLY PRO gives reasons for eradication
Fawaz Adebisi
The sudden eradication of the Pharmaceutical Technology department in Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, MAPOLY among other institutions has sparked reactions among students of the department.
On Wednesday, the Pharmacy Council of Nigeria, PCN, and National Board for Technical Education NBTE signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), abolishing the training of pharmaceutical technologists in Nigerian institutions.
This was revealed in a statement by the PCN registrar, Ibrahim Ahmed, stressing that only National Diploma in Pharmacy Technicians will be trained and accredited across the country.
Reacting to this, students of the department protested the sudden eradication, considering their futures.
Speaking on the issue, the president of PharmTech at MAPOLY, Obina Paul, popularly known as Obedient, lamented that the sudden decision caught the public unaware.
According to him, eradicating the department and introducing a new one, Pharmacy Technician has only shattered the hope of the current Higher National Diploma students of the institution.
In his words, since the department will be abolished, where are we, the current HND students, going to work and which sector will we work in?
He said, “They are introducing another course entirely and that course is pharmacy technician, which is only for National Diploma students. This means we, the current Higher National Diploma students will no longer be relevant. Even after graduation, there will be no sector where we can work again.
“Because, according to the memorandum being released, which says we can’t work in a clinical setting, this means that we can’t work in any hospital setting. Our question is what are the settings we can work in now?”
He therefore demanded to know if the institution’s management is in support of the memorandum or will go against it to secure its students’ future.
MAPOLY PRO Gives Reasons For Eradication
Responding to the students’ agitations, the Public Relations Officer, PRO of the institution, Yemi Ajibola, stated that the decision was to provide more opportunities for students of the department.
In his words, technologists disallow Pharmaceutical Technology students from doing some clinical work in the hospital whenever they’re in the field.
According to him, as PharmTech students, they can only work in pharmaceutical companies and not in hospitals, because they were trained to only work in industries where drugs are being produced.
However, he stressed that the decision was to empower them with the ability and license to work in hospitals.
He said, “One major reason pharmacists are fighting is that they cannot work in a hospital, adding that they can not be admitted into clinic aspect.
“Even the HOD (Pharmtech Head of Department) said they were not trained as students to work in a hospital but to work in industry, an industry where they produce and use drugs, pharmaceutical companies, those are the aspects meant for them to work, and if they want to work in the hospital they will have a problem.”
Hence, he said there’s a need for students of the department to work in hospitals and get equipped academically.
Responding to Paul’s question, he clarified that the current students are not affected as they’re allowed to graduate.
He said, “those students who have entered will have the opportunity to graduate, we were asked to graduate them, but we shouldn’t admit fresh students” before implementing the new policy.
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