Rebalance clinical governance task force now — PSN tells Tinubu

…Says doctor-dominated panel risks patients safety
By Chioma Obinna

The Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, PSN, on Monday called on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to urgently rebalance the membership of the newly constituted National Task Force on Clinical Governance and Patient Safety, warning that its current physician-dominated composition could undermine patient safety and weaken public trust in Nigeria’s health system.
In a letter addressed to the President and signed by the PSN President, Pharm. Ayuba Tanko Ibrahim, the pharmacists who commended the Federal Government for establishing the Task Force, described it as “visionary and urgently necessary,” but expressed concern that the panel lacks adequate multidisciplinary representation required for effective clinical governance.
According to Tanko Ibrahim, the current structure risks entrenching professional protectionism at the expense of team-based care.
“Clinical governance and patient safety are not the responsibility of one profession,” Ibrahim said. “A physician-centric model that collapses prescribing and dispensing into a single loop carries huge patient-safety risks and contradicts international best practice.”
According to the PSN, the Task Force, as presently constituted, has 18 physicians, one pharmacist, two nurses and one administrator, a balance the Society said weakens credibility, ownership and system-wide adoption of its recommendations.
The pharmacists’ body noted that global best practice and World Health Organisation guidance emphasise multidisciplinary participation, including pharmacists, nurses, laboratory scientists, health information managers, administrators and patient representatives.
“Where pharmacists are properly utilised, medication errors are detected before they reach patients,” Ibrahim said. “Excluding critical professionals forces the system to rely on heroics and miracles, which often do not materialise.”
The PSN argued that pharmacists play a central role in medication safety, pharmacovigilance, antimicrobial stewardship and nutrition, particularly in high-risk and critical-care settings where checks and balances are essential.
The Society also drew attention to healthcare access realities in Nigeria, noting that community pharmacies remain major first-contact points for millions of Nigerians.
Citing data from the National Household Survey, PSN said 44 per cent of males and 49 per cent of females accessed healthcare through pharmacies in the preceding year, compared with 26 per cent and 22 per cent, respectively, who visited hospitals.
“These figures show that pharmacists are already providing frontline patient-safety interventions, especially for vulnerable populations,” Ibrahim said. “Policy decisions that ignore this reality will fail at the point of implementation.”
The PSN therefore urged the Federal Government to expand pharmacy representation on the Task Force to include leaders from the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), hospital, community and consultant pharmacists.
It further proposed a technocratic leadership structure for the Task Force, recommending that the Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Health and Social Welfare serve as Chairman, with the Director-General of NAFDAC as Co-Chairman, a model it said should also be replicated at state level.
“Patient safety should not be driven by political considerations. It is best handled by technocrats with deep regulatory and clinical expertise,” PSN stated.
The pharmacists’ body stressed that its submission was made in support of the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, adding that a more inclusive Task Force would enhance technical quality, national ownership and measurable patient-safety outcomes.
“Health care must move away from ego-driven hierarchies. Team-based collaboration is the only path to safer care and better therapeutic outcomes for Nigerians.”
The PSN urged President Tinubu to reconstitute the Task Force in line with international standards, saying equitable multidisciplinary representation is essential to delivering effective clinical governance across the country.

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