BY: Sandra Ani
Troop Pharmacy, Ikeja is one of the branches of Troop Pharmaceuticals Limited founded by Chizomam Ann Emeje; a renowned Pharmacist in Nigeria.
The branch was opened precisely on 3rd May, 2019 but the first anniversary was marked on 1st June due to the lockdown and movement restrictions arising from COVID-19 pandemic.
The Managing Director of Troop Pharmaceuticals Limited, Pharm Chizomam Emeje (Mrs), in a chat with the press including GrassRoots.ng, said that despite challenges in the society, they have maintained professionalism and utmost patient care not common in most pharmacies.
She promised that Troop Pharmaceuticals cannot compromise professionalism even as it works to strike a balance between optimal services at affordable prices.
In her words, “I must say, it has been an interesting journey but challenging one. Initially, we had power challenges for months, with high surges destroying appliances. It was the initial teething issue of a new take off though it was quite protracted.
“You also had the challenges of Human Resources which is a general issue in our nation, a sad fall out from inadequate upbringing as well as shortfalls in our educational system.
There was also the challenge of acceptance in the community and by the community being a new pharmacy which was new to the environment.
“We stand out for professionalism and utmost patient care not common in most pharmacies. We can not compromise this for anything so it was needful to strike a balance between optimal services at affordable prices.
“I believe this has been the strength of Troop pharmacy and it is being enjoyed now by Ikeja residents.
“We have also within the one year, launched our E- commerce services and upgraded our website. Clients can now purchase online and chat with our pharmacists online. We have other services – Telehealth and TroopNutri wherein health professionals can interact with our clients.
Our website, we can say is one of the best pharmacy websites in Nigeria. All these were achieved within the last one year. We are hopeful for greater days”.
Speaking further, Pharm Emeje, said the day signifies opportunity to offer professional services, counseling, health checks at highly reduced prices to the clients.
“The team has the joy of showcasing Troop pharmacy’s professional health care delivery to a larger audience as the health checks were highly discounted and some free.
“We ran things like Haemoglobin A1c tests (diagnostic test to assert good sugar control as well as Pre-Diabetic Status), cholesterol test, Random / Fasting Sugar test, Hepatitis and HIV screening, PSA (Benign Prostrate Antigen) – a qualitative rapid and convenient test to aid in the diagnosis of prostrate cancer, providing only a preliminary result and Body Composition Monitor, to mention but a few”.
She also used the opportunity to call on the government to take care of the elderly in the society, especially government retirees.
She said, “I know of certain senior citizens who for instance have been expecting their retirement benefits for more than 18 months in the midst of the pandemic. We know such citizens are prone to having low immunity and many have one geriatric health challenge or the other, yet the government never bothered to put this into consideration. It is easy to track such but it was never done.
“The pharmacist in the community are very close to such people. The government can through the pharmaceutical association create a modality to reach out to such citizens. All we do is on personal level as pharmacists but this class of people need to know the government is still there for them”.