He maintained that many departments and programs which were currently run by the doctors, including the immunisation program, should be managed and run by trained and qualified pharmacists like in other countries of the world and added that the role of pharmacists was also very important in ensuring access to medicines in the country.
“Unfortunately, in most of the hospitals, pharmacists are engaged in preparing lists of medicines for tenders; they are assigned the role of storekeepers and dispensing medicines to the patients. This is not the role and responsibility of a pharmacist”, he said and urged pharmacists to come up with innovative ideas to become entrepreneurs instead of job seekers.
Additional Secretary Health Kamran Rehman Khan deplored that although there were around 670 pharmaceutical companies registered with the DRAP in Pakistan, hardly 10 companies were able to export their products to the stringent markets as the majority were not following the international standards and good manufacturing practices in the pharmaceutical industry.
“Pharmacists can play an important role in introducing good manufacturing practices in our pharmaceutical industry and make our drugs acceptable for the entire world”, he said, adding that with better quality medicines, Pakistan could earn billions of dollars by exporting medicines to the world, especially the African countries.
DRAP official Amir, Zafar Bakhtawari, Ahsan Bakhtawari, and office-bearers of the PPA also spoke during the ceremony.
