Speakers at a policy dialogue on Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP), held in Dhaka on 19 September 2019, identified the need of competent pharmacists in hospital pharmacy settings as an imperative step for ensuring comprehensive health care services.
The event aimed to identify steps and solutions to establish Good Pharmacy Practice in health care settings; improve practices and appropriate use of medicines; decrease medication errors and improve reporting on medication-related adverse events, thus contributing to enhance the quality of health care services for people in need.
Speaking at the dialogue as the Chief Guest, Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury MP, Speaker of Bangladesh National Parliament said, “doctors and pharmacists should work hand-in-hand to utilize the expertise of pharmacists in hospital settings”. She called upon the doctors and pharmacists to develop comprehensive treatments plans and to help in achieving universal health coverage.
Organized by Pharmacy Council of Bangladesh (PCB) in collaboration with World Health Organization (WHO) Bangladesh, the policy dialogue was attended by Mr. Zahid Maleque, Minister of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), Mr. Farhad Hossain, Minister of State, Ministry of Public Administration, Prof Dr. A K Azad Chowdhury, Professor Emeritus, Department of Clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacology, University of Dhaka as special guests.
Addressing the participants, Mr. Zahid Maleque declared that “pharmacists are playing a vital role in health services in the country. We need graduate pharmacist posts in different hospitals. There is no conflict between the roles of doctors and pharmacists, they will work together for the betterment of health sector of the country”.
During the discussions, participants urged the Government to take immediate initiative to formulate a policy for appointing graduate pharmacists in all section of hospitals. Also, competency-based curriculum, training and examination should be developed before appointing pharmacists to ensure quality services.
“Ministry of Health and Family Welfare should formulate policy and create posts for hospital pharmacy as soon as possible to ensure better health services” said Mr. Farhad Hossain.
Furthermore, the participants recommended actions to improve doctor-patient, doctor-pharmacist and pharmacist-patient communication for ensuring appropriate use of medicines, and exploring options for enhancing clinical training of graduate pharmacists, including in-service training, post-graduate courses and cross-disciplinary training.
Tackling the issue of responsible use of medicines, Dr Bardan Jung Rana, WHO Representative to Bangladesh also emphasized the need of better training for pharmacists that will be reflected in increased responsibility of their activity: “To address medication-related needs, pharmacists should accept greater responsibility for the outcomes of medicines use and evolve their practices to provide patients with enhanced medicines-use services”.
Chaired by Mr. Ashadul Islam, Secretary Health Services Division, MOHFW and Chairperson of PCB, the event was attended by prominent academia, policy planners and renowned pharmacists and physicians of the country, among others.
WHO remains committed in supporting the Government of Bangladesh to strengthen the pharmaceutical sector and professionalize the staff for ensuring quality health services and further progress towards achieving Universal Health Coverage.