Model Community Pharmacies in the pipeline
The Ministry of Health has pushed forth with efforts to implement model community pharmacy announced SNNP region Health Bureau Pharmaceuticals and Medical Equipment Administration Director, Nafkot Berhanu, during the December 7, 2019 visit of Hawassa branch by members of the media.
The director stated that the main objective of the model community pharmacies is availing the community with fair priced pharmaceuticals, indicating that anyone with prescription would be served.
He also noted that the pharmacies would be located within a kilometer of health facilities to avoid the burden of searching for prescribed medicines by patients.
He further pointed out that the main duty of the model pharmacies is improving accessibility and that they would be in service 24/7 including on holidays with less focus on profit and more emphasis on providing pharmaceuticals at affordable price.
The director explained that local patient data centered supply would be applied in the provision of medicines for long term diseases such as diabetes, blood pressure, heart disease, epilepsy and insomnia.
He further noted that the model community pharmacies would provide customers with measures of their weight, height, Body Mass Index (BMI) and blood pressure using digital machines in addition to providing information related with the medicines they buy.
Another activity the model community pharmacies would undertake, said the director, is convincing parents to be guided by the advice of health professionals in providing food to their children instead of randomly buying them from shops and supermarkets.
Nafkot stated that the model community pharmacies have already been established near Hawassa Adare Hospital, Werabe General Hospital, Dilla Specialized Hospital and Sodo Hospital, further indicating that efforts are underway to spread the trend to other hospitals and seasoned health facilities that serve large number of people.
Nafkot noted that the Ethiopian Pharmaceuticals Supply Agency would play its key role in making the scheme a success by providing the model pharmacies with the initial pharmaceuticals they need.