APRIL PRIME PARAGON: PHARM ISA MUHAMMAD

Pharm. Isa Muhammad is not only a young pharmacist of distinction, but a man of many colourful hats. As the national chairman of PSN-YPG, he is innovatively steering Nigerian young pharmacists to transform pharmacy practice. Explore through this interview how he is impacting health policy in Nigeria, advocating for the rights of young pharmacists and challenging young pharmacists to stand out. He is our Prime Paragon for April. Now you know why. Enjoy.

PSN-YPG Lagos: Good day, Pharm. Isa. It’s great to have you here. Please introduce yourself to young pharmacists.
Pharm Muhammad: I’m Isa Muhammad, founder and CEO of Medinomic Healthcare Services Ltd and BokanArewa Ltd. I’m presently the national chairman of PSN-YPG. I am a pharmacist, a public health policy analyst and a product & business development consultant.

PSN-YPG Lagos: That’s a pretty expansive portfolio. For a few of us who see you as a role model, what does being a public health policy analyst entail?
Pharm Muhammad: (Laughs) Well, being a public health analyst involves an ability to manage resources. I work as a consultant for institutions, which is what Medinomic is majorly about; we review policy documents, develop policy solutions and help in policy advocacy, so we are also called policy entrepreneurs. We work for the government in development of various policies for different policy areas. We also help the people in the community to understand health situations. The pharmacist is the most accessible healthcare professional, so we are privy to a lot of details. As public health policy analysts, we maximise that position to give the best to the community at all times.

PSN-YPG Lagos: We’ll come back to you being a public health policy analyst and your works on policy advocacy and reforms in a bit. What was growing up like: family, education, influences that shaped you into becoming the person that you are now?
Pharm Muhammad: Well, thank you for the question. My childhood was a fun one. I schooled at Ecowas International School, Jama’a Local Government, Kaduna prior to the 1999 religious attack. I was born in Kaduna but Kano is my state of origin. However, Kaduna remains very dear to me despite the melancholic memories. Due to the crisis, my family relocated to Ibadan where we remained until the end of the crisis in 2001. While we planned to return to Kaduna, my dad felt he liked the system of education in Ibadan. We were enrolled in the neigbourhood school; Ad-Din International College. I also had my secondary school education there. My dad wanted me to learn more about the country, so I remained in Nigeria for my tertiary education. I attended Igbinedion University, Benin and had my internship in Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital, Kano. My education was a lot of fun; I had the opportunity to move around the nation and engage a lot of people. With it came a lot of opportunities. I am the first child, I have 7 sisters and 2 brothers. It hasn’t been easy as the firstborn and largely, the breadwinner, of my family.

PSN-YPG Lagos: So, why pharmacy? How come you got to choose pharmacy as your career path?
Pharm Muhammad: My career choice of pharmacy was totally influenced by my dad. I actually wanted to be a pilot or a petroleum engineer. My dad advised me otherwise. He thought that the oil sector wouldn’t be profitable for too long, that healthcare provided a surer sense of security. He wanted me to be a medical doctor but I have a phobia for blood, neither do I like taking medications. He challenged me, that I could learn how to design drugs even if I didn’t like to take them. That shaped my decision.

PSN-YPG Lagos: I know how tough it was to get you on this interview; to get a break from everything, what do you do asides pharmacy?
Pharm Muhammad: Sports. I used to play basketball in secondary school. When pharmacy happened, I had to drop basketball. I play football to destress. Also, I am an entrepreneur. I remember that in second year of university, I used my savings to get a shop which I converted into a boutique for clothes, jewelries and other stuffs. My father is a businessman; a jeweler, so I learnt the trade from him. I would buy from his suppliers and resell. Buying and selling sparked the flame in me.

PSN-YPG Lagos: What was your undergraduate study like? Did you take up any positions in PANS?
Pharm Muhammad: I served as the Vice-president (Academics), Association of Muslim Heath Students (AMHS) and Amir (President) MSSN, Igbinedion University Okada (IUO). We didn’t have a students union government (SUG) in my school. Instead, we had a mayorship. I was a senator in our mayorship, representing the College of Pharmacy in the Student Senate, and I was the General Secretary for Pharmaceutical Association of Nigeria Students (IUO) in my final year. All these positions were between 2013— 2015. The common belief about pharmacy school was an almost non-existent life outside of books. With my leadership, we transformed the status quo. We created channels for learning together and networking. School became fun.

PSN-YPG Lagos: Prior to being elected the PSN-YPG National Chairman, what were you doing as a pharmacist and how did you prepare for this milestone?
Pharm Muhammad: Well, I didn’t harbor any interest to take charge of YPG; I was basically running my company Medinomic which I founded when I completed my national service. My participation in the election was as a result of people’s belief in me. They saw the possibilities I was initially blind to. It was at the launch of Pyodine by Brooke’s Pharmaceuticals and Pharmaplus at Sheraton, Lagos that I received nudges from some select gentlemen whose identities I won’t reveal. About three months later, I started receiving calls from the North, encouraging me to vie for the position, that I would do a good job. It wasn’t until then that I started considering the possibility of vying for the position. I started seeing myself in that space. I planned and strategised, visualising the reality from different angles. I’m glad it worked out well for me.

PSN-YPG Lagos: You won the award of PharmaNews Young Pharmacist of the year in 2018. Undoubtedly, that must have been a very proud moment for you. How did it feel?
Pharm Muhammad: There I was, hustling to kick my start-up off the ground. We started Medinomic in late 2017, with millions of naira invested in the business. We didn’t have the proper awareness that we needed to operate at the time, then PharmaNews Young Pharmacist of the Year came through, I wasn’t even aware. A friend in my clique, Onimisi, was nominated. He had sent the broadcast message to me on WhatsApp. I forwarded to a number of group pages to encourage people to vote him. It was another friend of mine, Adeola, who called me and said, “Isa, are you okay?” and I replied, “Yeah! What is it?”. “Have you checked the link?”, she asked. “No”, I said, “I just sent it to you guys because I don’t want to forget and he’s my guy”. She said, “Your name is there”. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe my ears. I checked the link and saw my name. I drafted a broadcast message and sent it to my contacts. At the time, they were already two days gone into the voting process. Immediately some people saw that Medinomic was nominated, they turned up for me. It truly was a show of solidarity. It was a very emotional one for me, it was beyond the votes. It’s not easy getting people to come on board and do stuff for you. I was dazed, it touched me so hard I didn’t even know how to react. People came up and took it personally to the extent that they were campaigning for me relentlessly. I was very busy at the time, moving from one place to the other. I remember I had some consignments to move from Lagos to Kano and I had some going to Bauchi, some going to Borno, it wasn’t easy for me and my head wasn’t in the game, but I would just come online and see that we had gone far, like from 1,000 votes to 2,000. It was baffling and emotional, so when I got the award I didn’t even know how to properly appreciate the guys. I then believed the Yoruba saying: “Eniyan laso”. Acording to the Hausas, people are what defines a person. I have never been honored in my life like that.

PSN-YPG Lagos: Every successful person, by any measure or standard, has people they look up to as mentors. Who are your mentors and how have they helped shape you into the person you are now?
Pharm Muhammad: Well, as of today, one of my mentors, a man that I’ll always be grateful to is Pharm. Ahmed Yakasai; he shaped my life for me. I had a plan for myself, I presented it to him, and he helped me mould it and gave me the opportunity to fast track my plan. I was in Lagos but I couldn’t pitch my proposal to him. There was a convention in Kano at that time, so I bought a ticket and met him in Kano. I told him about it and he put a call through for me. I had an experience in clinical pharmacy in hospital practice but I needed the industrial experience, I needed somebody to help me get a good place to do it. Fidson Healthcare was one of the best then. They had the best machinery and practice. I wanted to learn what was going on in the industry, based on the reality and not what we were taught in school on micro-production. So he called the MD of Fidson and Mr. Fidelis Ayebaye said I should come over. I got a ticket back to Lagos and I was given access to learn in Fidson. Those moments shaped my life and I learnt a lot. I’ll be eternally grateful. My Mentor-General is my dad, he has always been on top of all my affairs. I actually want to be like my dad, a version 2.0 of my dad.

PSN-YPG Lagos: You mentioned your work as a policy expert earlier. How does being a pharmacist — a healthcare professional who is accessible to the people — impact on your work?
Pharm Muhammad: Well, I’ll give you an instance with Lagos state: My organisation was invited as a stakeholder to deliberate on policy documents regarding the state-based health insurance scheme. They were trying to implement a PPP Partnership and one of the articles of my company was on primary healthcare at the family level. In fact, our community pharmacies are instead recognised as family pharmacies; we are tailoring them down to the people. I am currently running my masters in Health Policy and Management and it involves a lot of policy review, policymaking and policy framework analysis. My company, Medinomic, was invited separately and I was invited as an individual separately. So we analyzed the draft of the team and gave feedbacks. The then Commissioner of Health engaged us on our feedbacks. It was a very fruitful deliberation and a lot of people loved it. Subsequently, we were invited by Forbes and Philips in Lagos for analysis of digital economy and healthcare i.e. digital healthcare in this era. We were given the opportunity to speak about our work at Medinomic. In Nigeria, we (Medinomic) were the first tele-health platform that was launched, so we were further involved in stakeholders’ deliberations, alongside the present Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, the Commissioner of Health for Lagos state at the time, Toyin Saraki and her foundation. In addition, the “Sweet Sweet Codeine” project was quite memorable for me. We were a part of a private premiere of the broadcast by BBC which involves analysis and feedback for policy creation and implementation. It was during the time of Dr. Isaac Adewole as the Minister of Health. We sent in our Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and they reviewed it. So you see, whenever there is a need for policymaking across the nation, we tend to get invites to give our input. We also develop Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for companies. We guide their activities and policies, and from time to time, they invite us as a third-party agency to review what they are doing to help them have a standard bench-mark.

PSN-YPG Lagos: The PSN-YPG 2nd annual national conference is fast approaching. I believe it is scheduled for June in Abuja. Coincidentally, I’ve seen some digital flyers that suggest it is a 2-in-1 event i.e. the 1st YPG-Africa conference will be hosted by PSN-YPG Nigeria concurrently. How did that come about and what are we to expect from YPG-Africa as a whole?

Pharm Muhammad: Well, Thanks for chipping in the conference. The PSN-YPG 2nd Annual Conference and 1st Biennial Scientific Conference of YPG-Africa is going to be a different one. This is the launch of YPG-Africa. We’ve never had anything tailored for young pharmacists in Africa, so when I came on board I figured out that a project team led by Pharm Sylvester Adeyemi, Pharm Edith Musanyeba and Pharm Alex Bayoh had been working on it. I realized they already brought in stakeholders and drafted an MOU to establish YPG-Africa. So when we came on board, we joined the team and decided the mode of implementation. Initially, we were very fast, and then things slowed down. We fixed the bugs and made sure it was within a standard framework. Once that was done, we sent in a bid to host the YPG-Africa Launch and the 1st Biennial Conference. We won the bid. It was very procedural but it was worth it. So in Abuja by June, we intend to give young pharmacists (YPs) the opportunity to network across the world. We deserve to be global citizens as that is the only way you can really improve yourself and sell your brand best. I believe bringing in YPs from across Africa will encourage networking and diffusion of ideas across different aspects of pharmacy. Also, our conference in Abuja will be one to deconstruct the mindsets of people on the analog mode of engagement we’ve practiced for so long and the theme: Digital Economy and Healthcare – Role of Pharmacists and Regulators, clearly backs that up. I am very hopeful that this conference will change a lot of things; it will be more about selling our brands, helping the populace understand who a pharmacist is and what a pharmacist does. For example, regarding chloroquine and the coronavirus pandemic, this is an opportunity for pharmacists to educate the community about drug use, an opportunity to help the public understand your position. The conference will help in addressing the value attached to being a pharmacist, the value a proper community Pharmacy brings, the practice of engaging quacks will be removed. So a lot of deconstructions will come through in Abuja, and it is going to be fun.

PSN-YPG Lagos: The theme of the conference is Digital Economy and Healthcare: Role of Pharmacists and Regulators. What is the role of the pharmacists in leveraging the digital economy to drive effective and quality healthcare delivery for all? Also who are the regulators and what are they to do in helping the pharmacista achieve this goal.?

Pharm Muhammad: Well, discussing the role of the pharmacists and regulators in the digital economy and healthcare will be a very robust and long one, but I’ll speak briefly. One thing I noticed is that there is a generational digital divide which pharmacists can bridge. As pharmacists, we can leverage on technology to do a better job. Our regulators can also do better, especially with regards to online pharmacy. The conference will give us an opportunity to talk about these things, also help people to engage the regulators, help them come on board. When I say regulators, banks are part of our stakeholders, CBN is one of the regulators. Up until Covid-19, there was never a dedicated fund for pharma companies. Thank God as at yesterday, I got news that about 3.5 trillion naira was allocated to be channeled to the pharma industry, which is very good. Now we begin to look at implementation. If this can be sustained for the next 5 years, the pharma industry in Nigeria will be one of the greatest in the world. We have very innovative people, but this is an opportunity we don’t see all the time and these are opportunities young pharmacists alike don’t know exist within these agencies. Collaboration is key. The conference will see stakeholders, including banks, involved in deliberations. Our goal is to help people understand what they can do better. If you have a business you would like to scale, the banks and other stakeholders will be there so that you can engage with them. We need to engage more with agencies like Pharmaceutical Council of Nigeria (PCN). Many YPs believe that PCN is against them which I believe to be totally wrong. PCN is actually working to give sanctity to the sector in Nigeria. Until you engage them and try to understand their point of view or where they stand presently, you will never acknowledge what it is they are doing, with the resources at their disposal. Once we come onboard now, understand PCN, key into their agenda, work with them and leverage on technology, I promise you, in the next 2-3 years, the whole indiscipline in the sector will be cleared out. Then NAFDAC, another regulator, we have to understand how they operate before we can collaborate. A lot of YPs have the opportunity to go into production of creams, foods, and a number of other things. We are pharmacists, we are trained to do a lot. YPs have the opportunity to specialise but for the fact that they lack access to information, they can’t leverage on a lot of these things, they tend to limit themselves and stay in community practice and that’s all. I want that changed, I want them to understand NAFDAC is actually there for YPs. Contracting a third party on your behalf to go to NAFDAC is not right, you can engage them yourself and get the results you want. A lot of these things will be properly analyzed in Abuja, that’s why I said it will be a deconstruction area. There will also be a job fair, especially for those who desire to work in certain agencies. A lot will go down in Abuja and it will be a different one.

PSN-YPG Lagos: Conferences like this should bring together not just practicing pharmacists but also student pharmacists. How’s PSN-YPG connecting with students across the nation?

Pharm Muhammad: As it stands today, we have a lot of Pharmacists that are inducting, during that induction, we try to be there, and we offer them counsel, guide them and show them the path of coming into YPG. We majorly do the engagement digitally, telegram accounts and whatsapp groups, we add each of them, we are working on getting centralized placements for internship. Many of us had a challenge with internship placements in our time. We are trying to make sure they don’t go through that stress as well. We are engaging final year students because they are associate members of PSN-YPG, bringing them on our digital platforms, to make sure that they understand the status quo outside of school. We look forward to representing young pharmacists well. We don’t want you to be someone who settles for a 30,000 naira locum. That’s an insult to you. It shouldn’t be. It’s not just about the finances but the class, the regality, the things you bring to the table. Once you start engaging in mediocre stuffs like that, it tends to limit your thoughts. We are trying as much as possible, the zonal coordinators are working in every zone. The zonal and state coordinators are always present whenever there is an induction in every zone to engage the newly inducted pharmacists. Last week, we had a launch of Pharmacy Tower. It was an opportunity to engage young pharmacists and particularly, student pharmacists (PANS UNILAG). They also engaged with captains of industries and stakeholders present at the launch. In fact, we have a special package for them at the conference. The early bird registration is pegged at 5,000 naira for students and 7,000 naira for late registration. We did this to make sure they are a part of it. We don’t want a conference for only YPs, it’s going to be for pharmacists, students and all stakeholders. We are going to engage stakeholders in the sector and the interests of student pharmacists will be recognised. We are sure that once we are done,we will formulate policy documents which will be implemented at the level of the executives or the national assembly. We are hopeful that we will definitely get things done.

PSN-YPG Lagos: Is PSN-YPG involved in any advocacy or policy work that helps to protect the interests of YPs?

Pharm Muhammad: Well, first of all, what PSN-YPG is doing is to help YPs to be aware of their own rights. A lot of employers have taken advantage of their employees to do things that are unnecessary or uncalled for, which is wrong and whenever YPG is informed about such scenarios, we try as much as possible to push in with advocacy to sort these issues. Since coming on board, we’ve solved over 10 cases: some were abusive bosses, and some were YPs that were entangled in unfair cases that even got to the police station. Whenever YPG gets this information, we always swing into action without a second thought. The No.1 priority is to ensure that every YP is safe and free to go about their business anywhere. We are also working on partnering with the police at all levels and make sure they acknowledge our existence and ensure they protect and see us as their friends in the community who secure people medically, pharmaceutically and psychologically because as pharmacists we do a lot but these people are not aware. This awareness, this advocacy is where we are coming in now. Once people are aware, a lot of things can be fixed.

PSN-YPG Lagos: In the light of the COVID-19 outbreak, what is your advice to YPS in community practice, in terms of dissemination of information and managing panic buying of some medicines that have been touted to treat/prevent the infection?

Pharm Muhammad: Well, as a public health expert the first thing we are doing, the first thing I told all YPs was that: they all need to be equipped. As the information on COVID-19 is being updated, we are making sure that everyone is learning. The name of our Protocol group of engagement on Telegram has been changed to “COVID-19 Study Updates”. For proper protocol management, we are working to make sure every pharmacist is equipped with the necessary information and protocol for the management of this disease. We are in a pandemic, the most important thing for all pharmacists like I told them, is firstly their own safety. Their safety determines the safety of others. Once we make ourselves vulnerable to this infection, then we’ve done a great disservice to our community because we’ll be reducing their access to care. So every community pharmacy, indeed every pharmacist, should take measures. I am glad to have seen that a lot of us have been doing that, creating spaces or barrier lines for their patients. I saw what Kunle Ara Pharmacy, Ibadan did; very beautiful. I saw what some pharmacies in Lagos and Kano did, they created spaces to encourage social distancing for their clients. All of these efforts are very important and I believe if we can sustain this, we will not only defeat COVID-19, we will also have a better and solid structure for our practice going forward.

PSN-YPG Lagos: In 2017, during the PSN National Conference, Pharm. Mazi Ohuabunwa, stressed that Nigeria’s overdependence on foreign importation of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) will have a rebound effect on us and the healthcare system; The DG of NAFDAC further stressed that point as well. Owing to COVID-19, we are getting a glimpse of that rebound effect. In the last few weeks, pharmaceuticals and protective equipments are becoming scarce not just at the consumer level but even the companies that import these products are finding it a grueling task to carry out normal operations because the major suppliers of these products to Nigeria are in China (which has been on a lockdown since 23rd of January) and India (where there’s currently a ban on exportation). This can have major impacts on a country such as ours which has very low production capacity, and an underdeveloped and still failing healthcare system, thereby impacting negatively in healthcare delivery. What is your advice to pharmacists looking to pursue a career in the industrial sector and also what will be your advice to the government in order to tackle this huge drawback?
Is there any policy work that can be done to revitalise this sector? Ensuring good production standards does great good to our economy; it has a far-reaching positive impact on different sectors. This, I believe, will greatly affect the public perception of the country especially for professionals that fall prey of the “Japa Syndrome”.

Pharm Muhammad: First of all, pharmacy is so large. If you are not in the community or sales and marketing or production, many YPs think there is no other area for practice. Many do not fancy academia because they believe the remuneration is not worth it. You see, there is logistics and supply, there are companies that are doing 8 billion naira in a month, and they are not even pharmacists. I am telling you this because I have seen this and know it to be true. How can there be somebody making this much money in this sector where you, with the expertise, should operate? Talking about APIs, the federal government initiated loans, Agric-Business/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS), about 5 million - 9 million naira, but where are our pharmacognosists? They have the opportunity of venturing into pharmaceutical farming: pharmaceutical agriculture to produce corn starch, preservatives, colorants. A lot of these things are not rocket science, they are things you just need to sit down, study, understand and then have a work-plan for yourself, but some people don’t like putting in the work, going through the stress. In 2014/2015, I started one of my companies, BokanArewa, a logistics company and that is what we do to complement Medinomic today. We are into farming, we aren’t yet at the pharmaceutical level because we are still working on our yield, but once we get them right and start processing them, we could actually provide raw materials for pharmaceutical companies. YPs keep on saying, they want this or that. Government can’t do everything for you, there are loan structures in different microfinance banks and commercial banks which we can access, but people don’t even understand how to write a business plan, how much more run a business? We are planning to train, mentor and deconstruct the mindsets of YPs on how to do most of these things. We have people in telecommunication, foods, beauty products etc. Who are those that will come into these areas and make the production? This is why we keep importing them. If we pitched in our business case to CBN, we will actually be cutting in forex if given the opportunity to access the cash flow for the pharmaceutical sector and it’s working now seeing as they just released funds for the pharmaceutical industry. What we want to see and do going forward now is to train YPs on how to capitalize on this opportunity to make sure they are equipped and ready to provide these services. At the same time we want them to provide these services, not in a sub-standard way, we want quality. I believe we are on the right track, we might not be moving as fast as we wish, but tough times call for tough decisions. I believe with this case now, which is unfortunate, it will help in a way to change a lot of things that have taken root. With collective resources, interests and participation, it is doable.

PSN-YPG Lagos: Today is Mother’s Day. I’m very sure you’ll have one or two words to say to your mum and any other special person in your life who stands in or acts as a mother.

Pharm Muhammad: Well, my mummy, Hajiya — laughs — she has been the police in my life, always making sure I do the right thing. My dad would never flog you but my mommy – laughs, hmmm – she will reset you, infact my dad has never beaten me, he’d just look at you and say “if you do that thing again ehn, you will leave my house”. My discipline, my focus, being attentive, my ability to listen to instructions and make sure I follow through was because of my mum. The kind of man I am now and my gentility was all of her. I can’t help but say I love her, I pray for her, and I wish that she will actually reap all the benefits. She should just chill for me, by the time I’m done, I’m going to buy her a jet to celebrate this day. I know she likes Mecca, so I’ll get her a house there hopefully. I’m praying it happens. My sweet sisters, I love them and all the ladies in my life, I can’t help but appreciate them, especially the YPs. They’ve been a source of strength to me especially when the going gets tough. They are not my mother but they tend to play that role. My mum might not be seeing these things now but they see it and support me, so I can’t help but appreciate and show love to them.

PSN-YPG Lagos: Pharm Isa Muhammad, I had an incredible time speaking with you. Thank you so much for your time and thoughts.

Pharm Muhammad: Thank you for your time.

This interview was conducted by Pharm Oluwatobi Ojo and edited by Pharm Taiwo Olawehinmi, on the auspices of the Editorial Committee, PSN-YPG, Lagos Chapter.