History records point to the Spanish flu having taken about 500 000 lives in South Africa, making us the fifth most devastated country by the highly contagious flu of the early 1900s. Now in 2020, with an advanced healthcare system and armed with a pharmacy workforce proportionally bigger and stronger than 100 years ago, we are faced with a similar pathogen yet more deadly.
South Africa’s journey to universal health care coverage, as called for in the Section 27 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act 108 of 1996), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the NDP, appears to proceed unhindered.
Since the last issue of the Pharmaciae, Council sat on two occasions and resolved on a number of matters. This article highlights some of the decisions resolved on at the October 2019 and February 2020 Council sittings. Other matters on the operations of the Office of the Registrar and the Council are covered in the articles featured in this issue of the Pharmaciae.
Pharmacy professionals, as frontline essential workers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, have a higher than normal risk of exposure to contracting the novel coronavirus causing SARS-CoV-2 pathogen. Pharmacy owners and responsible pharmacists are called upon to observe and implement guidelines and regulations on infection prevention.
The South African Pharmacy Council receives a significant number of complaints from the general public concerning dispensing errors – this article aims to highlight common errors and provide guidance for pharmacists and the industry to mitigate the situation.
After many years of simple prohibition, the world is in the process of re-evaluating its attitude to and regulation of cannabis and products made from the plant. Cannabis is widely grown, in almost all countries, and has been used for various reasons for millennia. Andy Gray of the University of KwaZulu-Natal’s Pharmacology Division provides a precise treatise of legislative changes around medicinal cannabis.
It is not often that all sectors of an industry come together for skills sharing, deliberations on policy and to chart a way towards a common and shared future. However, the pharmacy profession does this triennially at the National Pharmacy Conference (NPC) – with every periodic meeting being more resounding success than the previous.
Following the promulgation of the Regulations relating to continuing professional development by the Minister of Health in May 2019, the South African Pharmacy Council published the Rules relating to continuing professional development (Board Notice 179) in September 2019, paving the way for the implementation of the regulations.
South Africa’s unemployment rate has been stubbornly high for several years now, as the economy is not creating enough jobs to meet the demand. Pharmacy graduates are one of the many graduates affected by this phenomenon, with some finding themselves without internship placement on graduation. The South African Pharmacy Council urges pharmacies to use the ‘training delegation regulation’ to employ more interns per approved tutor.
The Pharmacy Act requires of the Registrar to keep up-to-date accurate registers of persons registered to practise the calling of pharmacy in South Africa. The accuracy of the details on the registers is required for verification of registration and registration details, as well as the communication of Council decisions and changes in legislation and procedures to registered persons.
As the world embraces the 4th Industrial Revolution and we move ever further into the digital age, it is with great excitement that we announce the decision to issue all registered pharmacy professionals with digital registration cards from October 2020.
The South African Pharmacy Council continually strives for excellence and looks for ways to improve upon its responsibilities to the profession. With the aim of protecting the good image of the pharmacy profession, the SAPC has revised the inspection grading methodology and is taking action against pharmacies who continually fail to comply with the GPP.
After serving as Council’s Treasurer since 2013, Ms Nocawe Thipa informed the South African Pharmacy Council of her retirement from the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) with effect from 30 April 2020.
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, the Pharmacy Month planning committee has made the difficult decision to postpone the celebration of Pharmacy Month 2020.
On 12 June 2020, the Minister of Health published various proposed amendments to regulations published under the Pharmacy Act, 53 of 1974, for comment.
The practise of the calling of Pharmacy is reserved only for duly qualified and registered persons. Any unqualified and unregistered person found attempting to practise Pharmacy in South Africa would face criminal prosecution while those that allowed such person to practise will be subjected to disciplinary action.
Legislation is continually changing and being updated. The South African Pharmacy Council endeavours to include all legislative changes and additions relating to the pharmacy industry in each edition of the ePharmaciae. This edition looks at the legislation published from July to December 2019.
As the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) is legislatively mandated to protect and uphold the good image of the pharmacy profession while assuring the public’s right to universally accepted standards of pharmaceutical care, the Committee of Formal Inquiry investigates alleged misconduct by pharmacy professionals and premises owners, and institutes various penalties on those found guilty – these can range from a fine and/or suspension from practice, or complete deregistration.
Talent recruitment, retention and human capital development are at the core of the Office of the Registrar’s strategic mandate. The South African Pharmacy Council’s (SAPC) registers have grown exponentially in the last decade, thus demanding that the Office of the Registrar is staffed by talented, qualified and highly competent personnel. In this edition of the Pharmaciae, we excitedly announce new appointments and promotions. Sadly, the SAPC has had to say goodbye to two highly-skilled individuals who set out to pursue greener pastures.
Industry conferences are an important tool in the South African Pharmacy Council’s arsenal of stakeholder engagement tools. They provide pharmacy professionals and other stakeholders an opportunity to better understand processes and to lodge services requests or follow-up on transactions.
The National Pioneer Pharmacy Awards recognise pharmacy professionals and facilities from the community, public/private institutional, industry, academic and other sectors as leaders in the provision of quality pharmaceutical services.
