‘Community pharmacist slowly transforming from a trader to a professional’ As everyone knows professionals involved in the healthcare delivery system will never cry over recession as community pharmacy is a lucrative career and is a very well developed and well respected setting. However, the true community pharmacy concept has yet to develop in India. Manjiri Gharat, Vice-President and Chairperson, Indian Pharmaceutical Association-Community Pharmacy Division (IPA CPD) speaks about the reforms needed and the positive happenings in the Indian community pharmacy system with Usha Sharma INTERVIEW
January 1-15, 2013
Recently you were elected as the Vice-President and Chairperson, Indian P h a r m a c e u t i c a l Association-Community Pharmacy Division (IPA CPD) and also as the Executive Committee Member of Community Pharmacy Section of International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP). What are your responsibilities? At IPA CPD, we have been working as a team and our focus is to work towards improving the professional standards of the retail (community) pharmacy practice and encourage the realisation of the social aims of the pharmacy profession as a contribution to public health. We strongly believe that collaborative working can yield a lot of results. We work with chemist associations, academia, corporate sector, government authorities and other organisations. As the chairperson of IPA CPD, I lead IPA’s community pharmacy and public health activities and try to have a spread across the country. Reaching out to maximum pharmacists from different corners of the country and educating them, sensitising them for their healthcare professional role is one of the main agenda. I must say that IPA provides an excellent platform for working at local, national as well as international level. Being a pharmacy academician, it provides me with a unique opportunity to work with budding as well as practicing pharmacists. Let me describe some of
the major activities and achievements of CPD. At IPA CPD we already had several unique initiatives. For the first time we have developed countryspecific Good Pharmacy Practices Guidelines based on FIP guidelines 2002 and followed it up with a GPP training manual (in collaboration with WHO India Country Office and CDSCO) 2005. CPD’s immediate past chairman Raj Vaidya has been the leader for our GPP Project. We continue to conduct GPP training programmes across the country. We also had a pilot project on accreditation of retail pharmacies, again a first of its kind initiative. Engaging pharmacists in Revised National TB Control Programme (RNTCP) is another innovative work of IPA CPD. This Public Private Partnership (PPP) is well established now in Mumbai. This project of IPA CPD is in collaboration with RNTCP, MSCDA, SEARPharm Forum and is supported by Lilly MDR TB Partnership. We followed up with Central TB Division (CTD), Ministry of Health, Government of India (GoI) for national expansion of this initiative and in April, 2012 CTD has signed a MoU with IPA, AIOCD, SEARPharm Forum and PCI for inclusion of pharmacies in RNTCP at a national level. IPA’s work and advocacy for pharmacist’s role acted as an agent of change and contributed to the policy change. It is a historic development for the pharmacy profession and marks the first time entry of www.expresspharmaonline.com
pharmacists in a National Health Programme. This pharmacist PPP model is also recognised by WHO. High TB burden countries are consulting IPA CPD, visiting Mumbai to learn the model for replication in their countries. Vietnam MoH delegates visited us this July and delegates from the US, Tanzania and Pakistan are coming in March, 2013. So it is a matter of pride for pharmacy profession in India that our pharmacies have become model internationally in public health work. I have been leading this initiative with our team and we are in the process of spreading this model in other parts of the country, as well as are helping the international spread of it. At CPD, we strongly wish and encourage pharmacists to attend national congresses and FIP congresses to take the global experience. Attending international conference such as FIP Congress and learning the global pharmacy practices, meeting people from 100 plus countries itself is a great inspiration and learning. I am glad to inform that at least a handful of pharmacists from Maharashtara have attended last two FIP Congresses and are even presenting papers. Maharashtra State Chemist and Druggist Association (MSCDA) is very supportive to the pharmacists for this activity. This is a new trend setting which will further contribute to professionalise pharmacies. Medicine literacy in the community is essential and CPD works hard for consumer education. Myself and my colleagues regularly write consumer educative articles related to medicines and health in local papers and magazines. We also conduct exhibitions on “Safe Use of Medicines”. We have also begun a campaign “Aushadh Saakharata” since last few years.
I have been associated with FIP for attending congresses, as symposium speaker or for paper presentations, for FIP surveys/projects etc. It is always a great pleasure to work with FIP in any capacity. As regards to CPS Ex Co, I am a new entrant and learning the systematic functioning of CPS. This is a four-year term. I need to attend two ExCo meetings every year and one of the meetings is during Annual FIP Congress and the other one in mid-of year. There is a lot to learn from FIP CPS experts. To make FIP more visible among community pharmacists in this part of the world, not only India but also in SEAR countries, will be one of the major responsibilities. Also contributing to FIP Congress programme and projects is another responsibility. We already work closely with SEARPharm Forum (WHOFIP Forum in SEAR Countries) and now with FIP ExCO, it is a great opportunity to contribute to global pharmacy practice development through FIP and which also brings opportunities for Indian pharmacists. Being a part of FIP, what changes would you like to recommend in India and how are you going to proceed? As part of FIP we will get more support from FIP in our work, FIP has a lot of expertise and initiatives for taking the pharmacy profession to its pinnacle, across the globe. I will draw ideas from there and adapt them to our country, and try to introduce them one by one, with guidance and support from FIP – by this I hope we will be able to build in the much needed respect and recognition amongst the pharmacists in the country. Do you think the Indian pharmacy community is EXPRESS PHARMA
73