# \[e-drug\] Pharmacists and Medical doctors **URL:** \ **Category:** e-drug\ **Created:** [January 24, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-pharmacists-and-medical-doctors/10142 "2001-01-24T01:06:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![did.jms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@did.jms](https://talk.edrugplus.org/u/did.jms)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2001, 1:06am UTC](https://talk.edrugplus.org/t/e-drug-pharmacists-and-medical-doctors/10142/1 "2001-01-24T01:06:14Z")
E-drug: Pharmacists and Medical doctors --------------------------------------------- Dear all, RE: Irrational Drug Use, Characterizing the entire health sector, of developing countries: What is this funny, deep seated struggle, between medical doctors and pharmacists all about? Is it designed to achieve a good health care system, or to fulfill greed and selfish agenda? A medical doctor should diagnose, which is no-easy, one-minute feel of a patient. A medical doctor should also suggest a prescription, and end here. A pharmacist picks the ball from there. The pharmacist should look at the prescription, and authenticate it, to cross check for any possible errors, and dangerous errors. Errors causing useless expenditure, keeping us sick, and poor. This is double checking. Because medicines are chemicals, and human life is precious. Resources are also limited. A pharmacist should then supervise or dispense the medicine. And dispensing is no easy, one-minute talk at a patient. So, to start assuming, is too light to come from educated human beings. Friends, this is the cycle God prepared humanity to have. Violate it. You will sing irrational drug use, year in, and year out, forever. You will also, at the same time, pretend to brave through the consequences, and become fully insensitive to the results. You will say, well, i have been diagnosing, prescribing, and my nurse - who has not been retrained to handle medicines, has been doing a good job for the last 30 years. Very good, my friend. Too long does not make it right. You are human. The nurse is under qualified to cross check your prescription. And how do you keep those medicines. How about laws governing their use, are you aware? Do you believe that dispensing, and drug information to the patient is very necessary. Do you acknowledge that the patient is for the health care team, and not for you? And that the patient has the right to sue you, for technically avoidable errors? Do we have human rights activists around? There is work for you. Health professionals also suffer. For example, after a reckless use of vital antimicrobials, health workers can also get infections (and infections account for most disease in the developing countries), that can not respond to treatment, and the speed at which that happens is too high, and often restricted to where medicines are misused, and overused. The only scientific explanation for such, friend, is misuse and overuse of medicine. And the drug authority should work of course, closely with Pharmaceutical Societies, and pharmaceutical societies should handle pharmacy practice. If the drug authority entangles, in licensing pharmacy practice, you will see all sorts of inferior generics, on your medicine market. What will be the results? You all know them. Yet your population is poor. See it, you should put money in that area. A drug regulatory authority should be empowered with an excellent staff, and equipment or laboratory. And should do aspects or activities involved in drug control. Results of laboratory analysis, and procedure used, should be reviewed and discussed by a panel of technically competent personnel, that should be with in the drug quality control department. Before sending results to higher authority, for action. If you arrange otherwise, or, if, you would like to experiment, your experience will never forget my name. And, if, you say that you can do excellent diagnosis. Do excellent prescribing and dispensing. All the 3 steps, alone, then I am almost 100% certain, that you are telling a lie. You are not with patients, but some where in the limits of administration, and policy making. WHO(World health Organization) medicines policy advisers, should not watch, as pharmacists and doctors, in developing countries fight a senseless war, while the taxpayer, and ordinary citizens-from whom the pay rise comes for a living, for either professionals, undergo trauma, in all innocence. A dispensing medical doctor, will induce purchase of medicine from a wholesale pharmacy or retail pharmacy. The retail pharmacy, will also purchase medicine, from the wholesale pharmacy. The dispensing doctor, will charge his paracetamol syrup at 3,000/= and, the retail pharmacist will charge-the same paracetamol, at 1,500/=. The dispensing doctor will charge his consultation fee, plus over priced medicine, and call the sum of the two, 'total treatment bill.' Do you see this dear! The retail pharmacy will inevitably close, to open a wholesale pharmacy. Why not?. To earn a living, since pharmacists hardly charge consultation fee. They only depend on sales, from medicine to pay rent, salaries to support staff, and other expenses. If the retail pharmacy is adamant to become wholesale, the moment the supervising pharmacist goes to the loo, the owner of the business instructs, the nurse, or pharmacy technician, to sell, so that they get salary for the month! What will you see friend? All prescription only medicines will be sold without prescriptions, in the private sector. And you will observe, essential drugs get off nice looking shelves, like oranges tumbling from market stalls. Attack the problem from the cause. Wipe the symptoms, and you get back to zero, wasting money. Look, is the result of the automatic shift, from retail to wholesale pharmacy trying to get pharmacists closer to patients, or further away from patients? WHO, remember how UN watched the Rwandese butcher one another. Yet being privileged, should call for neutrality and sympathy for the under privileged. Therefore, instead of spending money on all sorts of studies, designed by medical doctors, to show how pharmacists are poor at diagnosis, and, studies, designed by pharmacists to show how medical doctors are poor at prescribing or dispensing- the donor community should put money in pharmacy schools, to churn well trained pharmacists, with good clinical skills. And medical schools to churn well trained medical doctors with excellent diagnostic knowledge. Donors could also think about pushing money into training laboratory technologists, and avail excellent diagnostic facilities, where feasible. As the quality of medicines is checked, from time to time, the quality of laboratory reagents should not go unchecked.   And money is wasted in senseless wars. What a 'gimmick'! Otherwise, watch the way the UN watched 1,000,000 people in Rwanda, die, in 1994. And later, they tend to show they are concerned. But friend, human beings had died. I can not call UN a hero, in at least in that case. However politically correct, you may seem, to look at UN. Now, the other reasonings about resistance, can contribute, but you and me can not do much about those other causes, or mechanisms of resistance.   But we can do much or rational use. Notice that there is a happening, in the developed world, of using natural ways and natural products, the so called alternative medicines. Believe this my friend, those medicines or ways are not developed here in my country, and I am almost 100% certain, i will say. If alternative medicines, especially herbal derived, are misused, and overused, even unnecessarily, they will also become worthless. WHO, which statements will you issue. Act now or behave the way the UN treated the Rwandese, in 1994. Back to patients or the general public. As you know majority are illiterate. The literate are ignorant, but think they know everything. Literate or illiterate, the population must be taught, properly, clearly, without prejudice. Leaving all stones up side down. Do not give dangerous material still on research. Or hatched out of an ill defined research technique. Give reality, facts. Research material is suitable for only health workers. And once in a while you can keep the public posted on what is on going. Patients you have put on research without notice can sue you. (Ethics of research on medicines, require you to teach patients about their plight!) Remember that clear, drug use education, with helpful impact, as i have stated above, needs health workers, to have their house organized, first thing, top priority. This is top priority. Do not see a new health centre as top priority. I mean, you must plan. If your plate is always next to your shoes and, your tooth brush is kept in the sink, of your kitchen. Have you planned with a sober mind? You, then, rush to put all the money you have into buying more new shoes, and more toothbrushes and plates, to be handled in a similar way. Look friends! I will not stop before this statement. When your Pharmaceutical Society teaches X, to the general public, while your Medical Association teaches Z, to the same community - intelligent lay people will doubt either of you. And there will be no sense, in the whole money, human resource, and time consuming exercise. Intelligent lay people will say, surely, they are making us fight their, trivial, inter-professional grudge, which our fore healthworkers, clearly, and without mercy to the patient - started. WHO(World Health Organization), HAI (Health Action International), and other mindful bodies, i challenge you to break the silence, on this matter. Sincerely, George Kibumba, MPS(Uganda) Drug Information Pharmacist, Joint Medical Store, Nsambya, P.O.BOX 4501, Kampala, Fax: 256 41 267 298 Tel: 256 41 268 482 e-mail: did.jms@imul.com -- Send mail for the `E-Drug' conference to `e-drug@usa.healthnet.org'. Mail administrative requests to `majordomo@usa.healthnet.org'. 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