Meaning Of Pharmacist Registration, Licensing And Certification In Nigeria

Pharmacist registration

As at June 2017, the Pharmacists Council Of Nigeria (P.C.N), the regulatory body of pharmacy education and regulation in Nigeria complained about the gap between the registered pharmacists and licensed ones. According to PCN, there are about 21, 892 registered pharmacist in Nigeria. Of this few number, only 12, 700 has been duly licensed to practice. This number is far low compared to the millions of persons they are to serve.

Pharmacist Registration

A graduate of pharmacy school is yet to be a pharmacist until after induction/oath ceremony where they will be registered into PCN register. The registration is term temporary because it elapses after the internship. A pharmacist must after internship register under PCN to be called a pharmacist and allowed to practice in Nigeria. The process for registration is simple and can be done at any PCN office nationwide after making some payment. The registration leads to the provision of a unique registration number for the pharmacist used for identification within Nigeria.

Pharmacist License

The license, on the other hand, is a credentialing process that allows a pharmacist to perform some legal skills of the profession. The license allows the pharmacist to practice a career path only. What this means is that a pharmacist cannot have two licenses. A license can be for community practice, academia, industry pharmacy etc.
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According to some standard, the services of a pharmacist is needed at all time in a place. The pharmacist cannot be at two places at the same time. Imagine a situation whereby a pharmacist is lecturing and owns a community store. Patients may come to the store when the pharmacist is out there with students of pharmacy. It is technically unethical, as the patients will suffer the consequences. This standard is worldwide and not just in Nigeria. However, a lot pharmacist considers this as a stepping-stone to manage many community stores just like owning an electronic store. This is the reason a pharmacist cannot own more than one retail outlet. For those that do, they must have a collabo with another pharmacist to use their license to open another outlet with their names under certain conditions.
Licensing does not last for life as the pharmacist must renew it every time with PCN. In addition, a pharmacist can change the type of license whenever they choose to any other one suitable for them.
There are different types of license such as;
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• Hospital pharmacist
• Retail or chemist pharmacist
• Academia pharmacist

Pharmacist Certification

Certification is like not a practice in Nigeria pharmacy. However, in foreign countries, certification is a process of writing an examinations to be certified as a pharmacist. However, can one say the Pre Registration Examination for Pharmacist (P.E.P) in Nigeria is here to fill that void. However, one must not forget that for re-certification of the pharmacist, a registered and practising pharmacist must apply for the mandatory continuous professional development program. That means that certification can be attributed to registration with PCN.