Joint Health Sector Unions, JOHESU, and the Assembly of Healthcare Professional Association, AHPA, on Thursday, rejected appointment of Mr Ahmed Mora as the new chairman of Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN).

In an open letter signed by acting national secretary of JOHESU, Mr Matthew Ajorutu to President Muhammadu Buhari and copied to the Chief of Staff to the President, they called for immediate termination of the appointment of Mora as PCN chairman.

The organisations in the joint letter claimed that Mora was presently on the roll of dishonour of Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, after being delisted as a fellow PSN.

They argued that a person suspended in the relevant profession cannot be appointed as chief regulator of the same profession; threatening to join PSN to embark on industrial action should the government fail to terminate the appointment.

They alleged that; “Mora was also alleged to have emerged professor of Clinical Pharmacy after six years of becoming a full-time academic from 2012 to 2017.  For a man who claims to have a Ph.D. in Management, how did he suddenly become a professor of Clinical Pharmacy in Nigeria?

“There is evidenced based clarification that Mora falsified, to his advantage, some existing pharmacy and drug laws which certainly is not in the public interest.

“The plethora of allegations is unending but even if it is limited to only the above three, the Federal Ministry of Health needs to retrace its step immediately.  We call on the Ministry to amicably resolve the issue to improve drug management in the country.”

Recalling that Mr Buhari had in a meeting with JOHESU and officials of ministry of health directed that Minister of Health, Mr Osagie Ehinare should ensure that the issue be amicably settled, they stated that quick and positive intervention would go a long way in maintaining the existing industrial peace, particularly in the food and drugs levels of the health sector.

Warning that in line with the age-long philosophy in organised labour that an injury to one is an injury to all, they said JOHESU and AHPA would align with PSN, to protest through the withdrawal of services as well as boycott all PCN activities if the government fails to redress the appointment.

“The question for nation-building dictates that we should not further compromise our value system as a nation that wishes to thrive and excel.

“This nation is particularly apt for an administration that professes an anti-corruption and transparency mantra.”

Vanguard