Universities That Offer Doctor Of Pharmacy (Pharm D) in Nigeria

Pharm.D (copyright: Pinterest)

Doctor of pharmacy (Pharm D) is a professional doctorate in pharmacy. It started in the United States of America in 1955. It became the first professional degree and prerequisite for licence to practice. It has been adopted by many other countries including Nigeria. A graduate from a Pharm D school is entitled to the prefix doctor (Dr).

Read Also: Important secondary school subjects relevant for pharmacy education

The programme is a shift from product focus to patient oriented approach to health. To understand it, instead of stopping at producing drugs alone, pharmacists can now produce and also handle minor ailments with a view to increase healthcare.

Pharmacy Degree Since Inception

Looking back at the history of pharmacy programmes in Nigeria, one can see we have come a long way. From the dispenser certificate in 1902, it changed to a chemist and druggist diploma in 1923. Still on the move to improve, it became diploma in pharmacy (D. Pharm) in 1956 which did not last before it became Bachelor of pharmacy (B pharm) or bachelor of science (BSC) in pharmacy in 1962 and 1968.

First Pharm D programme

The road to Pharm D all started in 1992 when some group of people left the chores of Nigeria to the United States of America to see for themselves what pharmacy profession is over there. They came back and started working on a road map to a Pharm D programme in Nigeria. It was in 2001 that the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria (PCN) approved the programme. The first university to begin the programme was the University of Benin (UNIBEN) in 2001. However, the national University commission (NUC) in 2007 dissociated itself from the programme and urged UNIBEN to graduate it's students with the old bachelor of pharmacy (B.pharm) degree.

A meeting was held between different stakeholders in the health sector with the federal ministry of health in 2014 on the pharm D programme. With intervention from PCN and the Pharmaceutical society of Nigeria (PSN), NUC finally gave a positive nod to the programme in 2016. Uniben continued the programme.

Other Universities With Pharm D programme

It has been years since the new programme was approved. Ten other universities have started the pharm D programme. The first that got approval from their own school Senate was university of jos (UNIJOS) in 2008. However, I am not very sure when the programme eventually kicked-off.

The next school that saw the importance and took bold steps is the Bayero university, Kano (BUK). Their pharmacy programme kick-off in  with the pharm D programme. The programme has been approved by both NUC and PCN. They are yet to graduate from any of their pharmacists.

Read Also: List of pharmacy schools in Nigeria

Then in 2016/2017, university of ilorin (Unilorin) joined the league of pharm D programme in Nigeria. This was closely followed by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) which has been running B pharm for so long now. Their change to the prestigious pharm D programme was announced in their oath taking/induction ceremony of their 2017/2018 set. The programme started in earnest in the 2019/2020 session.

Below is the full list and when NUC eventually approved each. This does not cover approve list by PCN

1. Bauchi State University, Gadau, Bauchi State established 2020

2. Bayero University, Kano, Kano State established 2015

3. Federal University Oye-Ekiti, Ekiti State established 2019

4. Gregory University, Uturu, Abia State established 2019

5. University of Benin, Benin City, Edo State established 2019

6. University of Calabar, Cross River State established 2020

7. University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Oyo State Kwara State 2019

8. University of Ilorin, Ilorin, established 2019

9. University of Jos, Plateau State, established 2018

10. University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Enugu State established 2018

11. University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State established 2020

We have over 20 pharmacy schools in Nigeria. Only five have started this pharm D after four years since approval by NUC. The reason for the slow adoption is attributed to the stringent requirements in running the programme. Vice chancellors (VC) and other people who are in academia should encourage the adoption of pharm D.