Last Updated on August 4, 2023 by The Health Master
Pharmacists’ vital role in Enhancing Healthcare in India
Pharmacists are a crucial group of healthcare professionals globally, ranking as the third-largest in the world.
In India, most pharmacists work in community settings, acting as the initial point of contact between individuals and healthcare services.
As the Indian pharmaceutical market experiences significant growth, with sales projected to reach 2,100 crores by FY21, there is a pressing need for pharmacists to shift from their traditional roles of simply dispensing medicines to filling critical gaps in healthcare and contributing to the nation’s health efforts.
Despite their importance, many patients fail to distinguish between grocers and pharmacists, necessitating a paradigm shift to integrate pharmacists seamlessly into the healthcare system and deliver superior healthcare services.
How Pharmacists Can Enhance Healthcare in India:
Proper Usage of Medicines:
- Pharmacists can offer guidance on medication administration, storage requirements, and provide counseling to patients when needed.
- By promoting rational use of medicines through good pharmacy practices, pharmacists significantly enhance patient knowledge on correct medication use, increasing awareness from 56% to 90%.
- In India, approximately 70% of the population lacks access to essential drugs, but pharmacists can bridge this gap by improving drug availability and safe utilization.
Diet Counselling:
- Community pharmacists can play a pivotal role in ensuring adequate nutrition for patients.
- By advising on basic food needs, correcting poor eating habits in children, suggesting specialized diets for allergies or diabetes, and participating in educational campaigns, pharmacists can promote healthier eating habits.
- Crucial facts like the link between fish consumption and reduced stroke risk or the impact of hyper vitaminosis on menstrual cycles can be communicated by pharmacists to improve overall health.
Educating People about Sexually Transmitted Diseases-AIDS:
- India is estimated to have around 23.49 lakh people living with HIV/AIDS, and the cost of treatment is often beyond the reach of a significant proportion of the population.
- Pharmacists can contribute to HIV/AIDS prevention by raising awareness and providing information on HIV transmission, risk factors, and prevention methods.
Personalization of Drug Therapy:
- Personalizing drug therapy by customizing drug selection and dosing to individual patients is a significant trend in modern medicine.
- Pharmacists can offer counseling on drug information, pharmaco-economics, alternative therapies, and moral support when physicians are occupied with diagnoses.
- Storing patient history and essential details enables individualization of drug therapy, enhancing treatment outcomes.
Increasing Pharmacists’ Participation in Healthcare:
- To address the shortage of medical professionals and lack of trained providers, maximizing the knowledge and skills of pharmacists can bridge healthcare gaps and support professional development at various levels.
- Training pharmacy professionals in basic public health competencies, program planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation can enhance their effectiveness in managing community health.
- Leveraging technology and implementation science can facilitate the integration of pharmacists into public health services, generating vital data to support their role in improving public health.
- The need for dually trained professionals in pharmacy and public health is evident, and pharmacy schools should incorporate public health and pharmacoepidemiology courses into their curricula to create future public health professionals.
Final Words:
In India, community pharmacy practice is underutilized, and pharmacists often fail to provide patient counseling.
To harness the full potential of pharmacists and recognize their role in delivering better healthcare, collaboration between the government, health organizations, and pharmacist associations is essential.
By sharing experiences and establishing appropriate guidelines, pharmacists can become an indispensable asset in advancing healthcare services across the country.
By Nikkhil K Masurkar, Executive Director, ENTOD Pharma
(DISCLAIMER: The views expressed are solely of the author and The Health Master does not necessarily subscribe to it. The Health Master shall not be responsible for any damage caused to any person/organisation directly or indirectly.)
Disclaimer: This article contains information derived from ET Healthworld. Our team utilized an AI language model, to rewrite and present the news / article in a unique format.
Click to read complete series Chapter 1 to 13 on India and Pharmacy Education
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