The Chairman of Community Practice Pharmacist Association (CPPA) Dr. Emmanuel K Ireland , has stated in categorically that as a country, we can only have a healthy nation, if we have healthy and sound citizens.
Dr. Emmanuel K Ireland made this known at the Launched of ” I Am Your Pharmacist Campaign”, held at Standard heights in Accra, under the theme ” Community Pharmacists, Your Trusted Healthcare Partner
To him, ‘I am your pharmacist campaign’ will further enhance their capacity to give off their best and deepen their relationship with the communities that they serve. It will also enhance their capacity to provide Pharmaceutical Care Services including, Medication and Medical devices Dispensing Service, Minor Ailment Service, Medication Use Review with Follow-up Service,
There rest are, Compounding Service, Medication Reconciliation Service, Smoking Cessation Service, Weight Management Service, Nutrition counseling for diabetic patients, Family Planning services etc.
Dr. K. Ireland said even though these Clinical Professional Pharmacy Services will be provided for fee, there are a lot of other Community Health-related Services that will be provided for free. These include, Therapeutic Adherence Service, Pharma covigilance Service, Health information service, Health Education service, Health Promotion service, Disease Prevention service and others.
The role of pharmacists has evolved and specialized services will be provided with additional training and certification by the regulator.
“It is worth mentioning the great collaboration with we have enjoyed with Pharmaceutical Importers and wholesalers Association (PIWA). Even though our collaboration with PIWA to reduce prices at a time prices were skyrocketing failed, we strategically agreed that PIWA offers credit lines to deserving Community Pharmacies in other to ensure that quality and efficacious medicines were made available to our communities to prevent death due to non compliance and the main focus was on clients with non-communicable diseases like Diabetes, Hypertension.”
He said community Pharmacists are unable to benefit from fair compensation from Patient Care, and Patients are unable to subscribe to the services of Pharmacists. So E-Health Technologies comes to bridge that gap by offering a solution utilizing effective, innovative and cutting-edge eHealth and mHealth technologies to enable both the pharmacist and the client enjoy upgraded healthcare services by just downloading an App.
In other to ensure quality he said pharmaceutical care delivery, plans are far advanced with ADVANCE PHARMA who has developed a unique technological platform to ensure that deserving pharmacists own their own pharmacies.
“CPPA has endorsed the use of the Approved Label Printer which is a digital label printer -developed by two (2) young Ghanaian pharmacists (Hayford and Isaac) of Pharma tech Solutions Limited (PSL) to help prevent dispensing errors, promote patients’ safety and help solve drug prescription related problems in the pharmacy and I urge all to patronize it.”
This week-long community pharmacy week celebration will serve as a visual celebration of the critical role pharmacists play and it is a great way to help raise awareness about the vital role of pharmacists in our healthcare
system.