Dear Fellow Pharmacists
On 5th May 08, I send out a call for Pharmacists to attend a Seminar on “Part-time/ Full-time Career Opportunities in Hospital and Community Pharmacy on Wed, 21st May 2008 at Alumni Medical Centre.
The objective of this seminar was to communicate the help needed at patient care sector – the most visible facet of pharmacy profession – in the hospital and community pharmacies. 9 organizations participated, i.e. Guardian Pharmacy, KKH Women’s and Children Hospital Pharmacy, Mt Alvernia Hospital Pharmacy, National Cancer Centre Pharmacy, National Healthcare Group Pharmacy, National University Hospital Pharmacy, Singapore General Hospital Pharmacy, Unity Healthcare, Watson Pharmacy. They have 76 vacancies for pharmacists. In a survey done in April 08, there is a total of 120 vacancies in all the hospital and community pharmacies in Singapore.
At the seminar, I shared about the:
a) Increased demand in patient care areas
b) Reasons for the increased demand,
c) Millions of dollars in funding for additional pharmacist manpower and training including postgraduate training by MOH for public sector
d) What are the reasons for the funding
e) Revision of Pharmacist career path in public sector
f) HPB’s support for community pharmacist to take active role in prevention of diseases and chronic disease management
g) Why pharmacist are needed at community pharmacies for the profession to be a key partner in healthcare scene in the country.
h) How pharmacists in non-patient care areas could achieve the required CPE points.
The ground is ripe for us to take advantage of the opportunities given. As of April 08, Clinics and Specialist Clinics are supposed to give out itemized bill. GPs are also linked with CPF Board to draw on patient’s Medisave for chronic disease management. Now, subsidies are also given for certain group of patients to be managed at GP clinics. Thus, Pharmacies can also contribute to chronic disease management such as counseling and dispensing of drug.
In hospitals, many of the patient medication safety projects undertaken over the past few years by the hospitals have convinced MOH of funding additional manpower. Credit also goes to our MOH Chief Pharmacist, Ms Ang Hui Gek, working closely with the Pharmacy Managers, for helping to push for the millions of dollars of funding for the public sector.
We are pleased that 56 Pharmacists responded to the seminar. The intention was that pharmacists who are keen to go back to patient care area, knows that help is at hand to guide them back. For pharmacists who are not working, especially housewives, they could come back and even working few hours per week at community pharmacies would help. For pharmacists who are in non-patient care areas, such as marketing, regulatory etc, helping to locum few hours per week will help very much too.
Concurrently, PSS will have to work closely with MOH, NUS and SPB on how we could increase the numbers of pharmacists. PSS, through the Hospital Chapter and Community Chapter, will also have to work with the various organizations’ pharmacies such that working in patient care areas are exciting and challenging and yet our pharmacists feel rewarded emotionally and financially.
Best Regards
Fatimah Moideen Kutty
President, Pharmaceutical Society of Singapore
