Health Ministry probing reports of unqualified persons functioning as pharmacists

“It has been a very difficult task to retain skilled health professionals across the board in the health sector,” were the

Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Shamdeo Persaud

words of Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr. Shamdeo Persaud, as he commented on reports of the absence of a pharmacist at the Port Kaituma Hospital.
This publication reported a few days ago that residents of the Region One area were complaining about the state of affairs, especially since they are convinced that some of the personnel operating at the hospital’s pharmacy are not trained health care workers.
While unable to speak directly to the absence of a Pharmacist, Dr. Persaud said that he has requested a report to ascertain what obtains at the health care facility.
He however admitted, during an interview with this publication, that the availability of pharmacists within the health sector is very limited. In fact he acknowledged that the Ministry has had, for some time, about six trained pharmacists but noted that that amount is likely to be boosted with the return of persons who benefited from the Guyana/Cuba scholarship programme.
In addition to that “we have been trying to contract a few more people but it has been a difficult task of retaining them,” said Dr. Persaud.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has long underscored that pharmacists have a crucial role in quality assurance and the safe and effective administration of drugs. Moreover, the role of a pharmacist in any health care system has been recognised as especially crucial.
Dr. Persaud in commenting on the matter, however noted that pharmacists are not to be confused with the plethora of Pharmacy Assistants that the sector has. Pharmacists, he explained, are the level of pharmacy workers who have been able to acquire degrees in Pharmacy.
As health care professionals they are required under law to be licensed every year and under those licenses too they are subjected to continuing education.
Moreover, he noted that pharmacy assistants are a group of health workers who must work under the supervision of a Pharmacist or some other senior health care worker.
The challenge that the public health sector is faced with, in terms of retaining pharmacists, Dr. Persaud said, is that the majority of them seem to gravitate to the private sector.
And according to him “the system that we have (in the public health sector) is that a Chief Pharmacist has to oversee the pharmacy assistants and other pharmacy staff while we have some senior pharmacists at larger facilities.”
However when questioned about the reports of unqualified persons operating out of the Port Kaituma Hospital’s pharmacy, the CMO said that “as far as I know they all have some training but I am investigating those reports.”
This publication was reliably informed by the residents that in recent weeks there have been no senior health care worker(s) supervising the dispensing of medication to persons visiting the health facility. In fact there are reports that members of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have been asked to volunteer their services at the hospital’s pharmacy.
Reports are that the CSOs are among a group of persons who are paid stipends to undertake health related duties in the Region as the need arises. “These people are dressed in scrubs (medical practitioners attire) performing duties which they are entirely unqualified to do,” one senior health official told this publication.
According to A Partnership for National Unity’s Shadow Minister of Health, Dr. George Norton, the state of affairs was brought to his attention some time ago. As such, he, in voicing his concern, questioned how that could be allowed to happen. He insisted that such practices could have disastrous outcomes even as he added that “we just can’t allow that (dispensing of drugs) to fall into the hands of unqualified persons…that is nothing less than a scandal that should never be…”
Based on reports coming out of Port Kaituma there has been no pharmacist at the Port Kaituma Community Hospital for a protracted period, a development that has been of concern to some residents.
It was only recently too, that residents of the Region had expressed concern to this publication that they had received expired drugs from the very health facility.