VIAGRA NEWS

Source: Daily Express

Date: 14-May-2007

The Sabah Pharmaceutical Society (SPS) is set to create a greater impact in the local community.

The society has come a long way from its inception in 1976 when it was chartered by mere six members at a time when the pharmacy profession was still very obscure in the eyes of the public.

Towards making its presence felt, the society with over 100 members throughout Sabah, will embark on a project dubbed "Community Pharmacy Week" beginning tomorrow (Monday, May 14).

Organising chairman Yee That Hian said, after a 30-year pioneering struggle by his predecessors to promote the profession, today's pharmacists have established themselves as respectable professionals.

He said these pharmacists are serving in many segments of the healthcare system such as the hospital, in the community, enforcement area, industrial sector and others.

"Like our counterparts in developed countries like the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand, we, Malaysian pharmacists, want to assume greater roles and work closely in multi-disciplined healthcare teams in the areas of medicine review, detection of drug interactions and medicines management, among others. This would optimise and economise treatment considerably. This move has resulted in substantial savings for the healthcare system in those countries," he said.

Yee, a community pharmacist himself, noted that governments in the USA, UK, Australia and New Zealand are increasingly making good use of pharmacists' expertise to expand the scope of healthcare in the interest of their citizens' well-being.

A series of programmes will be held throughout the week to mark "Community Pharmacy Week".

According to Yee, the project is the brainchild of the Society's President Dr Allan Mathews with five objectives in mind.

- To promote the role of pharmacists as an important part of the healthcare team in the country;

- To promote the role of community pharmacists in primary healthcare screening and health awareness campaign;

- To encourage the public to tap and make use of the expertise of pharmacists as a valuable source of information on matters relating to medicines and other healthcare supplements;

- To promote the safety, proper and correct usage, storage and disposal of medicines in the community; and

- To discourage the public from self-medication and to respect their medicines with care.

Yee said the Community Pharmacy Week will kick off with a series of health-related articles in the Daily Express for the whole week.

The topics are:

- Development of Community Pharmacy Practice in Sabah - Smoking Cessation

- Weight Management

- What You Should Know About Your Medicines

- Are You Wasting Your Money Buying All Those Nutritional Supplements?

(This article is written by a famous nutritional columnist Datuk Dr Rajen). - Medicines Management

The week-long programme will culminate in an educational and brainstorming session for members on May 20 (Sunday).