Africa-Press – Tanzania. CHIEF Pharmacist Daudi Msasi has decried the increasing trend of essential drugs shops selling medicines which are not in their prescribed list, including birth control pills, which experts say have long run effects to young girls.
The CP said that the accredited drug shops were licensed to sell a set list of essential medicines, including selected prescription drugs to rural and periurban communities, but they are currently selling contraceptives, especially Postinor-2 tables and Misoprostol.
“There is an increasing trend of selling birth control pills, especially in drug shops, and people have been very bitter claiming that pharmacists, experts and other professional associations have failed to protect them,” Mr Msasi said during the Pharmaceutical Society of Tanzania (PST) annual general meeting held this week in Dar es Salaam.
He said that pharmacists are entrusted to protect the health of the people, thus they should play their role by supervising those drug shops.
The CP added that some pharmacies were also selling the pills to young girls, noting that if not well used, they will result into long run effects.
Meanwhile, Minister for Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children Dr Doroth Gwajima (pictured) has directed heads of public health facilities to revive therapeutics committees in efforts to control drugs loss and enhance availability of medicines to the citizens.
She said that the government in collaboration with development stakeholders has continued to take various measures to improve supply and distribution chain of medicines and medical equipment.
The Minister added that her office has continued to provide guidelines, including Standard Treatment Guidelines (STG) and Key Performance Indicators (KPI) which are crucial in ensuring that the professionals execute their tasks effectively.
A report issued by the Ministry of Health early March this year showed that medicines worth 26.7bn/- were stolen in public hospitals between July 2019 and December 2020.
The findings were revealed by a report compiled by a team of medical experts that investigated the distribution and delivery of medicines in 28 public referral hospitals in the country.
Dr Gwajima said that if the committees were active, the country could not incur such huge loss of medicines.
According to Dr Gwajima, the weaknesses identified during the study will be used as indicators for the performance score cards for pharmacists in government hospitals.
She also added that from next July onwards, public hospitals will adopt a performance scorecard system for their pharmacists as the government moves to control loss of medicines.
“We want you to go and address loopholes causing loss of drugs. Be efficient and adhere to your ethical conduct to build a good image and branding yourself for future opportunities,” she said.
Dr Gwajima further assured pharmacists of government support in order to enable them produce medicines and other medical requirements and provide employment to professionals instead of waiting for jobs announced by the government.
“You should not only wait for government employment, you should also be innovative, and as the government we are ready to support you by linking you to other investment opportunities in other ministries,” she added.
The minister further said that her office is aware of the shortage of pharmacists in public health facilities, noting that despite such challenge, those who are currently employed should carry out their duties as required so that they can be fairly judged.
“We cannot just hold accountable a pharmacist who has not done well because his working environment is not satisfactory, but I believe that despite such challenges, there should be some good things which he has done,” Dr Gwajima said.
