Pharmacists can be true change- makers in population health

Manjiri Gharat, FIP India Envoy; VP, SEARPharm Forum of FIP; I/C Principal, K.M. Kundnani Pharmacy Polytechnic, Ulhasnagar; Former VP, International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) and Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) gives some suggestions on how pharmacists can be made a more integral part of the India's health system, in an interview with Viveka Roychowdhury

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You've trained pharmacists for over three decades as a community pharmacy leader at local, regional, and global levels. You have also led public health initiatives, such as the DOTS TB pharmacists project of IPA. What has been the impact of such initiatives in terms of disease detection rates, compliance with medicine regimens, etc?

Pharmacists have long remained a missing link in our health system, with their true potential yet to be fully tapped.

However, I have always strongly believed that pharmacists are- and must be -an integral component of the healthcare team. With this conviction, I have continued my efforts to involve community pharmacists in peoplecentered care through various initiatives.

One of the key milestones in this journey was engaging pharmacists in the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Program (RNTCP). This was a pioneering example of a public-private partnership implemented from the local to the national level.

In Maharashtra alone, during 2010-2012, 525 pharmacists from six municipal corporation areas were trained in TB care and control and almost 100 served as DOTS providers. This was a historic development - more than 500 patients were treated at pharmacies, and trained pharmacists referred several TB suspects. Just to give an example: In the Bhivandi corporation area, 37 pharmacists referred 476 suspects, of whom about 14 per cent were confirmed positive cases. These were patients who might otherwise have been missed, and by identifying them, pharmacists played a significant role in breaking the chain of TB transmission.

The success of this PPP model had a multiplier effect it was replicated by NGOs in different parts of the country.

The training module developed Pharmaceutical by the Indian Association (IPA), in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW), was translated by NGOs into several regional languages to facilitate wider implementation.