News / Education
Zim hit by mega pharmacists shortages
07 Oct 2014 at 07:33hrs | Views
THE Pharmaceutical Society of Zimbabwe (PSZ) says the country has about 600 registered pharmacists, far below World Health Organisation (WHO) requirements for a healthy nation.
This revelation emerged during a two-day PSZ indaba which started on Friday in Victoria and was attended by about 250 pharmacists from private and public health institutions met.
PSZ president Dothan Moyo revealed that one pharmacist was required to serve 2,000 people according to WHO regulations which Zimbabwe was failing to meet.
He said most of the registered pharmacists were in the private sector and he believed there was room to increase the number in public health institutions.
Moyo said the shortage of pharmacists which was affecting health delivery was the result of a shortage of training facilities and brain drain.
Pharmacists are trained at the University of Zimbabwe and Harare Institute of Technology (HIT) while pharmacy technicians are trained at Harare Polytechnic and within the Ministry of Health and Child Care.
The delegates kicked off the conference with a belated commemoration of World Pharmacy Day, which falls on September 26 each year. They educated members of the public on non-communicable diseases.
The delegates donated medicines whose value was not disclosed, to Victoria Falls Hospital. Individual pharmacies contributed the donation. Moyo said the contribution was part of their social responsibility to provide medicines, care and medicinal information to the public.
Source - Chronicle