As a step forward towards giving a boost to Continuing Educational Programme (CEP) of MSPC, its Drug Information Centre has come out with a e- newsletter for the first time which has till date over 25, 000 registration and is increasing on a daily basis.

The first monthly e- newsletter features cholera as a waterborne disease and the steps taken towards its prevention and cure. The e - newsletter is meant to sensitise the pharmacists about diseases which have huge health impacts during a particular season. Every year, the city witnesses a spate of monsoon related ailments during rainy season. While the civic health department has been claiming to curb the malaria and dengue diseases, there has been a sudden spurt in the gastro and cholera cases this year.

Says Kinnari Desai, incharge of Drug Information Centre (DIC) at Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC), "It is each one of our moral and social responsibility to be aware about such water borne monsoon diseases and make others alert about the precautions for preventing the disease."

About 75 per cent of people infected with V. cholerae do not develop any symptoms, although the bacteria are present in their faeces for seven to 14 days after infection and are shed back into the environment, potentially infecting other people.

The e- newsletter is the outcome of DIC's independent efforts to equip the registered pharmacists with the latest and basic knowledge on the causes of cholera, indications, diagnosis aspects, prevention and treatment aspects in Marathi and English. It has inferences and details supported by reputed clinical journals and portals.

Says a pharmacist registered with the council, "E- newsletter can be of great help as it will be a deterrent for pharmacists towards irrational prescribing of drugs prevalent in the country."