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E-drug: Re: Involving pharmacists in HIV/AIDS Care ART Programmes
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Ladies and Gentlemen,
For one year I keenly worked locally on a multi-national HIV/AIDS care
programme involving ART. Although UNICEF used to procure and deliver
for us, there were problems that I know will increase in magnitude in
developing countries considering ART for all eligible persons.
In general in a number of developing countries, administering of
pharmaceutical services for specific programmes like HIV/AIDS care
involving ART requires improving. And it seems this has to begin with
establishing pharmaceutical offices at the headquarters of the
ministries of health, then at decentralized units if any, like districts
in my country.
Also, there is another thinking that I definitely will state:
Establishing some international office of sorts may be at WHO-Geneva to
oversee the day-to-day pharmaceutical activities involving use of
expensive medicines.
The reasons as to why I generated this thought was: It would be
unreasonable to have expensive medicines expire, and on top of this
incur costs of destruction! I would think of the International Office
to:
Develop pharmaceutically meaningful parameters to put in pharmaceutical
records; and some in a specially designed prescription form;
Organize to develop a sophisticated software programme to track whoever
prescribes; track expiry dates of stock in all accredited facilities,
and quantify the items actually consumed. The benefit of this strategy
out weighs the cost;
Train country pharmacists on relevance of parameters put in
pharmaceutical record; and those put in a specially designed
prescription form-pharmacists could tune generic drafts to suite local
conditions;
Train country pharmacists on how to use the software programme to manage
pharmacy reports from accredited facilities that provide HIV/AIDS care
involving ART;
Develop pharmaceutical parameters that countries must report about on a
stated interval.
This is what the pharmaceutical office on HIV/AIDS Care involving ART at
headquarters of ministries of health would do:
Train, monitor pharmacy personnel who will handle ARVs and assess
pharmaceutical reports from accredited facilities;
Assess reports of the pharmaceutical record; and prescription forms.
Pharmacies at all accredited centers must periodically send their
reports to the office from where the data will be assessed;
Use a sophisticated software programme to track whoever prescribes;
track expiry dates of stock in all accredited facilities, and quantify
the items actually consumed. The benefit of this strategy out weighs
the cost;
Develop an arrangement to ensure excess stock of ARVs at a given center
doesn't expire, but is sent to one that needs it. This will ensure
deserving people get their treatments in an uninterrupted manner as well
as reduce on the burden of waste disposal. When people are struggling
to buy their monthly doses, why should we spend money on destroying
expired medicines?
George Kibumba, MPS.,
Teaching Assistant, Clinical Pharmacy, Dept of Pharmacy,
Makerere University, P.O BOX 7072, Kampala, Uganda.
Private: P.O BOX 33543, Kampala, Uganda.
E-mail: kibumba@yahoo.com
Mobile: 256-78-430 080.
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