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For reshaping the healthcare delivery system in the country to be on par with international system, a better coordination and collaboration of doctors and pharmacists is an essential factor, and the associations of healthcare professionals as well as the governments must ponder over how Indian healthcare delivery system could be proceeded to reach that level, according to Kamal Mehrotra, the veteran pharma trader and supporter of pharmacy profession in New Delhi.
While delivering the keynote address in a seminar organised by the International Patients Union (IPU), a consortium of senior doctors, nurses and pharmacists, in New Delhi, Mehrotra said the pharmacists should be given equal importance like those of doctors and nurses in the healthcare delivery system.
Mehrotra is the founder leader of the Delhi pharmaceutical chemists association, RDCA (Retail Distribution Chemists Alliance), an affiliate of the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists.
“Pharmacists are as important as doctors and nurses. Without a pharmacist there is no doctor or nurse. Pharmacists should have an equal role with doctors in patient care and it has to be recognized by everybody. If there is no pharmacist, there is no doctor”, he said in the assembly of seniormost healthcare providers.
Mehrotra was invited to the seminar as a representative of the pharmaceutical industry. According to him, the pharmacy graduates and those with higher qualifications in pharmaceutical sciences know more about pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, pharmacovigilance and drug interactions than the medical professionals. So, the pharmacists must be engaged to explain the prescriptions of doctors to the patients. The doctors may not have sufficient time to explain the medicines’ usage to the patients, that job will be undertaken by the pharmacists provided they are assigned to it. He said in western countries, the pharmacists there have vital roles in patient care and healthcare delivery along with doctors.
He said in the Indian healthcare scenario, there is lack of coordination between physicians and pharmacists, and also between other paramedical staff. Where there is coordination, there the health outcomes are better. So, for a stronger and better healthcare delivery system in our country, the physicians must coordinate with nurses and pharmacists and train them in the services they must share with responsibilities. Similarly, the doctors can also share part of their responsibilities of healthcare delivery to the associated staff.
He wanted the International Union of Patients, that, on the lines of the hospital pharmacists, the community pharmacists should also be provided with responsibility of explaining prescriptions and delivering patient care. They should go hand in hand with the doctors to cure the disease. He said it is high time for the managers of the healthcare delivery system to think of enhancing the role of pharmacists in the healthcare system. Similarly, they must be encouraged to understand and implement various national health programs like vaccination, malnutrition, child health etc.
Further, in the public health awareness programs, the community pharmacists can also be given responsibilities to educate the public about preventive measures of public health problems like elimination of tuberculosis, antimicrobial resistance, use of habit-forming drugs, tobacco control, HIV prevention, TB control, environmental health, community health planning etc. They must be made an integral part of reporting adverse drug reactions under the pharmacovigilance program of India.
He further wanted the IPU to demand the government of India for the establishment of a department of pharmacy in each teaching institution in the country for handling medicines by qualified pharmacy professionals.
Kamal Mehrotra is actively involved in the areas of pharmacy profession and education in Delhi. He is participating in educational programs in the pharmacy institutions in the national capital and organising training programs for hospital and community pharmacists along with institutions. He has 50 years’ experience in the pharmaceutical trade and pharmacy professional activities.
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