Drugs and medicines are necessary for safe and healthy living, saving lives, restoring health and preventing diseases and epidemics. It may be noted that medicines are essentially foreign substances and therefore, if not used with care they can do more harm than good. Hence, medicines must be of good quality, safe, efficacious and should be used rationally.
Pharmacist plays an important role in this regard and in the present scenario the role of pharmacist has been emerging continuously over the past three decades so as to cater to the needs of the society. In the present scenario, the pharmacist is a co-ordination centre between different members of healthcare team and the patients. Hence, an adequate role and involvement of a pharmacist in safe use of medicines and overall healthcare programme becomes very crucial.
The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) came into existence in 1948 whose main job was to regulate the practice and education of pharmacy in the country. Initially, pharmacy education was offered only in government colleges and university departments. But with the advent of privatization of professional higher education in the country, a huge corpus of private entrepreneurs commenced private self financing pharmacy colleges across the country. No doubt, pharmacists are the front line healthcare providers and are the most accessible in the community, and their role is changing from a purely dispensing one to that of a more integrated healthcare service provider to patients.
Pharmacists play a key role in medication safety improvement. There is a powerful instrument that can be employed to help patients avoid dangerous drug interactions and adverse health effects that instrument are the pharmacists themselves. The pharmacist often interacts with patients more often than the prescribing medical professional.
Pharmacists are in a unique position to improve medication safety because, Pharmacists have clinical expertise to make a difference in the way patients manage chronic conditions for which they may be taking multiple medications.
Pharmacists are an affordable and accessible healthcare resource. For many patients, it is probably easier to consult a pharmacist than a doctor.
Pharmacists already play an active role in coaching patients on potential effects of their medications and why it is important to take them exactly as prescribed.
Pharmacists also play a key role in the dissemination of pharmaceutical knowledge. The practice of pharmacy includes the preparation and distribution of pharmaceutical products, the provision of advice on health and nutrition related aspects. Pharmacists can play an integral role in instructing drug abuse, counseling and other healthcare professionals about pharmacology and mechanism of action of abused substances and of medication used to treat substance use disorders.
Pharmacists have been chosen as key persons against drug abuse in advanced countries because of their education, accessibility and trustworthiness. Pharmacists play key role in preventing drug abuse by providing clear information and advice about the adverse effects of the medicines. Drug abuse may arise due to one of the following reasons such as wrong diagnosis, inappropriate drug selection, and wrong dosage schedule, situations where indications are not specified, unwarranted prophylactic use, poly pharmacy and drug interaction, drug-nutrient interaction, self medication with drugs, lack of facilities in rural or poor localities.
Pharmacists advise the patients to take the doses in proper time, so as to prevent any adverse consequences, such as missed dose of a glaucoma drug can lead to optic nerve damage and even blindness. Moreover, pharmacists enable the patients to pose educated queries and suggestions regarding medication to the healthcare provider which can in turn help in generating better prescriptions. Pharmacists play pivotal role among the healthcare providers because they are most informed person as far as choice of drug delivery system is concerned. Pharmacists are much aware about drug administrations, which to be explained to the consumers or patients as and when it is required. Pharmacists also make a link between the healthcare providers and patients.
In developed nations, the relationships between the pharmacists and prescribers are well due to the professional services offered by the pharmacists. In India, professional relationships between the pharmacists and prescribers need to be strong in the interest of profession and patients care. Pharmacists should deliver a friendly approach to the prescribers in the healthcare sector. In the healthcare system pharmacists have important role to play. Pharmacists should know core knowledge of medications about their adverse effects, interactions, proper dosing and monitoring. Pharmacists should educate patients about hygiene, sanitation, and exercises, Pharmacists should convince the prescribers about medications without prescription and also discourage patients about self medications.
Pharmacy education institution requires excellent laboratory facilities and good faculty. It is not appropriate if the emphasis is only based on theoretical teaching. This would erode the element of practical skill competency from education programme and the candidate who receives education in such manner will not be useful to the society at all. The very purpose of human resource development would be defeated.
More than 70 per cent of the pharmacy institutions which are established after 1995 do not have adequate facility in various cities of the country. These institutions do not appoint sufficient number of teaching faculty. In the absence of teaching and learning, the main aim of these pharmacy institutions is to distribute degree, make money and pay lip service to the needs of the students and the society. They are not at all concerned as to what a student will do after obtaining such degree and what will happen to the unfortunate patient who falls in the care of such a pharmaceutical company.
India is witnessing the surge in the number of abuse drugs using in the age brackets of 18 to 21 years. In such a situation, one should not forget to accept proper counseling and advice of pharmacists to understand the side-effects and risk of drugs. Well trained manpower with dedication to the job is the main core part of the success of the each profession.
In India, pharmacy institutions concentrating on developing well trained manpower and these institutions play a pivotal role in creating well trained manpower for pharmacy profession. According to some sources there are above 8000 seats for under graduation course (B. Pharma) remain vacant during this current academic year 2013-14 in various pharmacy colleges in Andhra Pradesh as the students are not interested to join the pharmacy profession of. Despite this poor rate of admissions to pharmacy colleges, around 1000 B. Pharma seats are added in various colleges every year in India.
Pharmacists must always advice patients about the proper usage of medicines. It is necessary a need of authoritative medicine use that will bring the responsibilities of the pharmacists to the society with an approach to benefit patients or consumers. Rural areas of our country have only limited access and very little capacity to pay for modern healthcare expenses. The public healthcare facilities still have to develop there. The doctors are unwilling to work in remote area of our country and the public knowledge regarding health and medicines are poor in remote area.
In rural India, most basic illnesses are treated by self medication because of absence of sufficient public facilities. Thus, the private community pharmacies are the only source of medicine. So these pharmacies or medicine retail outlets are rural patients' first point of contact for their wellness in the health system.
(The author is a practicing chemical engineer based in Mumbai)