Government urged to set up model pharmacies in major hospitals

Following the Supreme Court directives, speakers at a seminar urged the government to establish model pharmacies in major hospitals in different cities of Sindh. These views were expressed at a daylong seminar organised by Pakistan Society of Health-System Pharmacists (PSHP) at a local hotel on Saturday.
The theme of the moot was 'Role of Pharmacist in Hospital Formulary Decision Making'. Presiding over the occasion, Sindh Ombudsman Asad Ashraf Malik said it is unfortunate that the pharmacist are leaving for abroad and quitting the field due to lack of opportunities in it. He admitted that the law to have pharmacists in chemists and hospitals is not being implemented in Sindh.
Dr Masood Hameed Khan, Vice Chancellor of Dow University of Health Sciences, said that around 40,000 medical stores are operational without trained pharmacists, which ultimately causes harm to the patients. He urged the officials concerned to take stakeholders on board to implement the laws related to the pharmaceutical industry.
President of PSHP R Ph Bilal Maqbool, said the issue of substandard and counterfeit medicines has become severe, as the hospitals have either no pharmacist or not letting pharmacist involved in the hospital formulary decision making for procurement of medicines.
He said there is also need to establish 'Drug Evaluation Committee', composed of pharmacists who are drug experts and should be responsible for quality assurance and for the selection of brands. He demanded to advertise of 300 pharmacy positions laying vacant in the Sindh government.
He emphasised that the hospitals must follow the WHO guidelines that of hiring one pharmacist on each 50 beds round the clock and establishing Pharmacy and Therapeutics committee, which would ensure that drugs are being included in the hospital formulary on generic name and not on brand name. Hospitals should also establish Drug Evaluation Committee composed of group of Pharmacist who ensure the selection and rationalisation of drugs.
He recommended that Health Department Government of Sindh immediately advertise the pharmacists' vacant posts and approve their service structure and other pending notifications related to Pharmacy Council of Sindh. Other speakers included R. Ph. M. Obaid Ali - Deputy Drug Controller, DRA Cabinet Division, R.Ph. Syed Jamshed Ahmed - Director Commercial, PharmEvo, R.Ph. M. Riaz Bhatti - Head of Pharmacy Services JPMC. A large number of pharmacists working in various hospitals, CEO, Medical/ Administration Directors and pharmaceutical industries as well as academia of Pakistan were present on the occasion.