A former President of the Pharmaceutical Society of Nigeria (PSN), Mr Anthony Akhimien, has told the Federal Government to review the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) to enable pharmacists operate effectively.

He made the call in a keynote address at the annual Continuing Education Conference, organised by the Lagos State Chapter of the Association of Community Pharmacists of Nigeria (ACPN) on Tuesday.

Akhimien said that pharmacists were gatekeepers and should be allowed to work effectively with health managers like the NHIS and others to save lives.

He said the major problem the association was facing was problem of fake drugs.

"The problem of illegal and unregistered pharmacists is getting out of hand day in day out and I think we need NAFDAC to do more in eradicating this," Akhimien said.

He urged pharmacists to be custodians of drugs by having a wide range of drugs and to appropriately source for drugs from the right sources and not dispense expired drugs.

Akhimien advised pharmacists to be honest and to maintain their integrity, in line with the ethics of the profession, urging Nigerians to buy drugs from licensed pharmacists to sanitise the system.

He, however, said that the regulatory body of the association was doing its best to sanitise the system.

Speaking on "Managing Common Infections in Children," Dr Edem Duke, advised parents to always be observant and to note any change in their children to avoid unforeseen problems.

She said that children could not talk for themselves and when under-five, were at the risk of so many infections and external body ailments.

Duke said that self medication should be avoided in order not to put the lives of children at risk.

According to her, some infections in children may not necessarily be cured with antibiotics, the reason why any infection detected in children should be taken to hospital. NAN