‘Pharmacists: caring for you’ is the theme of this year’s ‘pharmacists day’ which falls on 25th September 2016. This ‘pharmacists day’ has special significance to the pharmacists and pharmacy profession in India. The Government of India has recently included ‘World Pharmacists Day’ as one of the Health Days for celebration. The pharmacists day observation is not very old, just 6th year global celebration. The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) calls upon the pharmacists world over to use this day to organise activities that promote and advocate the role of pharmacists in improving health in every corner of the world. In India, Pharmacy Council of India, statutory authority mandated to regulate the pharmacy education and profession, announced the observing of ‘pharmacists day’ on the 25th September every year beginning in 2013. The Council circular continues “this day is celebrated in order to make the public and the health care professionals aware that the pharmacists are important member of the healthcare team; and there is a need to make the best use of their services in order to improve the patients’ quality of life”.
Caring is an essential component of service and valued as one of the preconditions for building an effective therapeutic alliance with patients. The survey has shown that care is the characteristic most patients want in a pharmacist. William N. Kelly and Elliott M. Sogol, authors of ‘The Good Pharmacist’, describe caring as “Caring shows interest and is a generosity of spirit and the enemy of selfishness. Caring involves being available and connecting with patients, forming a true bond, helping, and having patience. When the pharmacists show that they care patients, the patients become transformed”. While it may be difficult to grasp the meaning of caring, showing genuine interest on the patients is definitely a sign of caring. Displaying caring behaviour in professional practice automatically brings name and fame.
The professional pharmacists have long been viewed as dispenser or supplier of medicines. Many do not consider this as professional service. Here are two live examples of pharmacists doing their professional responsibilities much beyond the dispensing. The Government of India (Central TB Division) has made community pharmacists as partner for DOTS therapy (Directly Observed Treatment Short course (DOTS). The patients can have the DOTS therapy in their neighbourhood pharmacy where the pharmacists have taken the responsibilities of providing the government supply medicines and promoting adherence to these medications. Promoting adherence to anti-TB therapy is the key to successful treatment and preventing emergence of resistance. This is a successful public-private partnership (PPP) model, a win-win situation in country like India where the nation is grappling with shortage of health workforce. This is the outcome of persistence efforts of Indian Pharmaceutical Association and others which resulted with the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Central TB division in one side and Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), All India Organization of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) and SEARPharm Forum (A Forum of FIP & WHO with National Pharmaceutical Association of the South East Asian Region (SEAR). It has been the general believe that the pharmacists sell all medicines without any control. A recent study reported in Lancet shows otherwise. None of the pharmacy studied dispensed anti-TB medicines to the standardised patients visited pharmacies asking for treatment. Anti-TB medicines are grouped with Schedule H1 drugs restricting their dispensing without prescription. Some urban pharmacies are reported to have correctly managed patients with presumed TB and most of them correctly managed the confirmed cases. This is another testimony of the pharmacists caring of the patients and the society. Indiscriminate antibiotic use can harm both the patients and efficacy of existing anti-TB treatments.
The journey of achieving the success of being recognized as professional has been very long. The enactment of Pharmacy Act 1948 in order to regulate the pharmacy education and profession was perhaps the first step. Though pharmacists at various levels have been offering several services besides dispensing medicines, these activities are not approved legally. It is only the Pharmacy Practice Regulation 2015 gave the legal sanctity to various professional activities and redefining the roles of professional pharmacists. However, the regulation is yet to be implemented in letter and spirit. The Health Policy of 2002 is completely silent over the role of pharmacists and in fact there is no mentioning of either pharmacy or pharmacist. With this background, a conference was arranged by the SEARPharm Forum in 2007 with support from World Health Organization country office bringing all stake holders together and providing platform for discussion of utilizing the services of pharmacists in National Healthcare Programmes. The pharmacists, pharmacy associations, educationists, and the programme managers of TB, HIV, family planning, malaria, etc. participated and deliberated. We have seen success of this initiative. The Draft Health Policy 2015 is different and has included pharmacists as healthcare providers. While recognitions are being received, it is necessary to provide the professional services in a sustainable manner.
The decision of Government of India to include pharmacists day in the line of doctors day is the recognition of pharmacists’ contribution to the healthcare of the people. With growing complexities in healthcare decisions, the pharmacists need to be more knowledgeable and more competent than ever before. Others must appreciate the change of pharmacists’ role from the provider of medicines to the providers of care aims in improving the outcome of pharmacological therapy and patient’s quality of life. All stake holders must join together to create a pool of World Health Organization’s visionary seven star pharmacists [care giver, decision maker, communicator, manager, life-long learner, teacher, leader and researcher] to make them effective healthcare providers at individual level and as member of health care team.
(Authors are with Department of Pharmacy Practice, Annamalai University, Annamalai Nagar, TN – 608 002)