A new Pharmacy Advisory Board has been constituted to seek solutions to the challenges facing the SA pharmacy sector.
The multi-stakeholder Pharmacy Advisory Board, which held its official launch meeting in Johannesburg in February, believes that pharmacists and pharmacies have an increasingly important role to play in the provision of primary health care services in South Africa.
Pharmacists play a vital role in the overall health care system through the provision of affordable and accessible minor ailments diagnosis and referral, patient education and screening, and drug information, particularly in under-resourced areas.
The new Pharmacy Advisory Board aims to unite pharmacy stakeholders in a common platform to identify key challenges and opportunities in training, quality and regulatory issues; and help address the skills shortage in the pharmacy sector by supporting training for pharmacists, pharmacy assistants and front shop assistants. The board will benchmark South African pharmacy against international best practice, and help to develop the sector to meet changing local needs.
Among the proposed measures the board hopes to facilitate are sponsorships of tertiary institutions and teaching posts, professional development portals for pharmacists and front shop assistants, product training sessions, and the distribution of good pharmacy practice guides and operating procedure manuals.
A potential outcome of the new board’s work will also be to support ongoing and effective communication between the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC), professional bodies and pharmacists across South Africa.
To ensure that the board drives inclusive change, the new seven-member board represents stakeholders from various pharmacy sectors and geographic regions. The board members are: Mirshelle Abrahams, MD and responsible pharmacist at Morningside Dispensary & Morningside Pharmacy in Sandton; Sabiha Essack, professor in pharmaceutical sciences and South African research chair in antibiotic resistance and one health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal: Amaan Kajee retail pharmacist and owner of Synergy Pharmacy in Cape Town; Patrick Makhesha, who runs two retail community pharmacies in Soshanguve, Pretoria; Sham Moodley, a community pharmacist in the Durban South Basin area and a director in the Care Group of Pharmacies; Tobje Nortje, a community pharmacist and pharmacy owner from Parow in the Western Cape; and Johannes Ravele, a retail pharmacist in Khutsong Pharmacy, Pretoria