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Dear
Pharm,
Dear
Pharm,
Dear
Pharm,
Dear
Pharm,
Dear
Pharm,
It has been 12 months since I wrote to you on this day, and I keep thinking about a security guard who walked into Enitan's pharmacy asking for blood sugar medicine. He had seen an advert on Facebook that said anyone with blurry vision must have high blood sugar, so he came to buy. The staff were already asking which brand he wanted before Enitan stopped them and asked him one question: when did you last check your sugar level?
It has been 12 months since I wrote to you on this day, and I keep thinking about a security guard who walked into Enitan's pharmacy asking for blood sugar medicine. He had seen an advert on Facebook that said anyone with blurry vision must have high blood sugar, so he came to buy. The staff were already asking which brand he wanted before Enitan stopped them and asked him one question: when did you last check your sugar level?
It has been 12 months since I wrote to you on this day, and I keep thinking about a security guard who walked into Enitan's pharmacy asking for blood sugar medicine. He had seen an advert on Facebook that said anyone with blurry vision must have high blood sugar, so he came to buy. The staff were already asking which brand he wanted before Enitan stopped them and asked him one question: when did you last check your sugar level?
He never had. They checked and his sugar was normal, but his blood pressure was not.
He never had. They checked and his sugar was normal, but his blood pressure was not.
He never had. They checked and his sugar was normal, but his blood pressure was not.
He left with the right treatment, advice on how to live with it, and a follow-up, instead of a drug for a condition he didn't have.
He left with the right treatment, advice on how to live with it, and a follow-up, instead of a drug for a condition he didn't have.
He left with the right treatment, advice on how to live with it, and a follow-up, instead of a drug for a condition he didn't have.
Now, take the pharmacist out of that scene and you already know how it ends. He buys what the advert told him to buy, and the pressure keeps climbing quietly until one day it becomes a problem.
Now, take the pharmacist out of that scene and you already know how it ends. He buys what the advert told him to buy, and the pressure keeps climbing quietly until one day it becomes a problem.
Now, take the pharmacist out of that scene and you already know how it ends. He buys what the advert told him to buy, and the pressure keeps climbing quietly until one day it becomes a problem.
That is my answer. For millions of people, a healthier future without the pharmacist does not arrive late. It does not arrive at all.
That is my answer. For millions of people, a healthier future without the pharmacist does not arrive late. It does not arrive at all.
That is my answer. For millions of people, a healthier future without the pharmacist does not arrive late. It does not arrive at all.
Last year I wrote to tell you that someone sees your struggle, but this time I want to tell you what I saw you do when nobody was watching.
Last year I wrote to tell you that someone sees your struggle, but this time I want to tell you what I saw you do when nobody was watching.
Last year I wrote to tell you that someone sees your struggle, but this time I want to tell you what I saw you do when nobody was watching.
This year's World Pharmacists Day theme is "Empowering pharmacists for healthier futures." I like it, but I want to be honest about one thing. The healthier future will not come from a policy or a new hospital alone. It is built at the pharmacy counter, in moments so ordinary that most of us overlook them, and only as far as your pharmacy is ready for it.
This year's World Pharmacists Day theme is "Empowering pharmacists for healthier futures." I like it, but I want to be honest about one thing. The healthier future will not come from a policy or a new hospital alone. It is built at the pharmacy counter, in moments so ordinary that most of us overlook them, and only as far as your pharmacy is ready for it.
This year's World Pharmacists Day theme is "Empowering pharmacists for healthier futures." I like it, but I want to be honest about one thing. The healthier future will not come from a policy or a new hospital alone. It is built at the pharmacy counter, in moments so ordinary that most of us overlook them, and only as far as your pharmacy is ready for it.
On another day at a different pharmacy, a heavily pregnant woman walked into Pleasant-Oaks, a pharmacy that had only just opened, and asked the owner if she even knew what she was doing. Then she asked for a BP check, which turned out to be 150/90. She was 42 weeks gone, and her birth attendant had told her to wait for labour. The pharmacist told her to get to a hospital that same night. Two weeks later she came back a new mother, thanking her for saving two lives. A mother and a baby who both have a future now.
On another day at a different pharmacy, a heavily pregnant woman walked into Pleasant-Oaks, a pharmacy that had only just opened, and asked the owner if she even knew what she was doing. Then she asked for a BP check, which turned out to be 150/90. She was 42 weeks gone, and her birth attendant had told her to wait for labour. The pharmacist told her to get to a hospital that same night. Two weeks later she came back a new mother, thanking her for saving two lives. A mother and a baby who both have a future now.
On another day at a different pharmacy, a heavily pregnant woman walked into Pleasant-Oaks, a pharmacy that had only just opened, and asked the owner if she even knew what she was doing. Then she asked for a BP check, which turned out to be 150/90. She was 42 weeks gone, and her birth attendant had told her to wait for labour. The pharmacist told her to get to a hospital that same night. Two weeks later she came back a new mother, thanking her for saving two lives. A mother and a baby who both have a future now.
You have your own version of these scenarios. The patient you sent to hospital before it was too late. The prescription you questioned. The call you made after closing. Most of you never told anyone. I am telling you now: that is what a healthier future is built on, and you are building it.
You have your own version of these scenarios. The patient you sent to hospital before it was too late. The prescription you questioned. The call you made after closing. Most of you never told anyone. I am telling you now: that is what a healthier future is built on, and you are building it.
You have your own version of these scenarios. The patient you sent to hospital before it was too late. The prescription you questioned. The call you made after closing. Most of you never told anyone. I am telling you now: that is what a healthier future is built on, and you are building it.
Neither the guard nor the mother needed a new hospital. They only needed a pharmacist who looked twice.
Neither the guard nor the mother needed a new hospital. They only needed a pharmacist who looked twice.
Neither the guard nor the mother needed a new hospital. They only needed a pharmacist who looked twice.
Neither the guard nor the mother needed a new hospital. They only needed a pharmacist who looked twice.
#Thinkhealththinkpharmacist
"I noticed a young customer about to faint and caught her just in time. After reviving her, I discovered she hadn't eaten and was severely weak. I got her a drink and rushed her to F.M.C emergency. Tests revealed severe anemia from continuous bleeding for a month. She was transfused and referred to a gynecologist. She calls me often now and has referred several people to our pharmacy."
— A. R., BHP Pharmacy Ltd
#Thinkhealththinkpharmacist
"I noticed a young customer about to faint and caught her just in time. After reviving her, I discovered she hadn't eaten and was severely weak. I got her a drink and rushed her to F.M.C emergency. Tests revealed severe anemia from continuous bleeding for a month. She was transfused and referred to a gynecologist. She calls me often now and has referred several people to our pharmacy."
— A. R., BHP Pharmacy Ltd
So the problem isn't that the work doesn't happen. It's that it stays invisible.
I have worked with more than 1,000 pharmacies, and this year I walked through many of their storerooms. I've watched you count stock by hand after closing, then open the next morning and still have to tell a patient to come back tomorrow. I've watched you let a regular take medicine on credit, then ask your supplier for more time to pay. The part of your day that should be the easiest, knowing what is on your shelf, is the part stealing time from the work only you can do.
So the problem isn't that the work doesn't happen. It's that it stays invisible.
I have worked with more than 1,000 pharmacies, and this year I walked through many of their storerooms. I've watched you count stock by hand after closing, then open the next morning and still have to tell a patient to come back tomorrow. I've watched you let a regular take medicine on credit, then ask your supplier for more time to pay. The part of your day that should be the easiest, knowing what is on your shelf, is the part stealing time from the work only you can do.
So the problem isn't that the work doesn't happen. It's that it stays invisible.
I have worked with more than 1,000 pharmacies, and this year I walked through many of their storerooms. I've watched you count stock by hand after closing, then open the next morning and still have to tell a patient to come back tomorrow. I've watched you let a regular take medicine on credit, then ask your supplier for more time to pay. The part of your day that should be the easiest, knowing what is on your shelf, is the part stealing time from the work only you can do.
We repeat that 80% of people in emerging markets reach a pharmacy before they reach anyone else.
We repeat that 80% of people in emerging markets reach a pharmacy before they reach anyone else.
On some days, you apologise to patients when you can't help them immediately, when a system failure or stock-out forces you to say "come back tomorrow."
We say it like a compliment when it's really a description of where the health system starts. If that first point of care runs on memory and paper, the rest of the system is blind to what happens there, and you carry the weight alone.
We say it like a compliment when it's really a description of where the health system starts. If that first point of care runs on memory and paper, the rest of the system is blind to what happens there, and you carry the weight alone.
We say it like a compliment when it's really a description of where the health system starts. If that first point of care runs on memory and paper, the rest of the system is blind to what happens there, and you carry the weight alone.
For me, empowering pharmacists means making every pharmacy future ready, so that care is visible and sustainable. However, recognition without infrastructure is incomplete. So is infrastructure without recognition, because the work stays invisible. We need both.
For me, empowering pharmacists means making every pharmacy future ready, so that care is visible and sustainable. However, recognition without infrastructure is incomplete. So is infrastructure without recognition, because the work stays invisible. We need both.
For me, empowering pharmacists means making every pharmacy future ready, so that care is visible and sustainable. However, recognition without infrastructure is incomplete. So is infrastructure without recognition, because the work stays invisible. We need both.
When a patient walks out because the medicine they need was not on your shelf, nothing was wrong with your judgment. The medicine existed. It was at a distributor or a pharmacy down the road, and you had no way to see it.
When a patient walks out because the medicine they need was not on your shelf, nothing was wrong with your judgment. The medicine existed. It was at a distributor or a pharmacy down the road, and you had no way to see it.
When a patient walks out because the medicine they need was not on your shelf, nothing was wrong with your judgment. The medicine existed. It was at a distributor or a pharmacy down the road, and you had no way to see it.
That is the part we have chosen to carry with you. At Famasi, we are pharmacists building for pharmacists & helping pharmacies become future ready. For us, it is not just about helping you work faster. It is about giving you back the hours that manual work takes, so the pharmacist who caught that red flag has time to catch the next one. It is about seeing what is about to run out before your patient is standing at the counter.
That is the part we have chosen to carry with you. At Famasi, we are pharmacists building for pharmacists & helping pharmacies become future ready. For us, it is not just about helping you work faster. It is about giving you back the hours that manual work takes, so the pharmacist who caught that red flag has time to catch the next one. It is about seeing what is about to run out before your patient is standing at the counter.
That is the part we have chosen to carry with you. At Famasi, we are pharmacists building for pharmacists & helping pharmacies become future ready. For us, it is not just about helping you work faster. It is about giving you back the hours that manual work takes, so the pharmacist who caught that red flag has time to catch the next one. It is about seeing what is about to run out before your patient is standing at the counter.
The tools are the means, not the point. The point is the woman who went home a mother, and the guard whose pressure was caught before it caught him.
The tools are the means, not the point. The point is the woman who went home a mother, and the guard whose pressure was caught before it caught him.
The tools are the means, not the point. The point is the woman who went home a mother, and the guard whose pressure was caught before it caught him.
If you own a pharmacy, take three minutes to score how future ready it is with this quiz.
To every pharmacist reading this: thank you for the red flags you caught this year that nobody will ever hear about. For the follow-up calls you made after closing. For the patients who call you "Mummy" or "Daddy" and not just "Pharmacist."
To every pharmacist reading this: thank you for the red flags you caught this year that nobody will ever hear about. For the follow-up calls you made after closing. For the patients who call you "Mummy" or "Daddy" and not just "Pharmacist."
To every pharmacist reading this: thank you for the red flags you caught this year that nobody will ever hear about. For the follow-up calls you made after closing. For the patients who call you "Mummy" or "Daddy" and not just "Pharmacist."
The healthier future starts at your counter. Our job is to make sure your pharmacy is ready for it, that the rest of the system can see it, and that you are not paying for it out of your own pocket.
The healthier future starts at your counter. Our job is to make sure your pharmacy is ready for it, that the rest of the system can see it, and that you are not paying for it out of your own pocket.
The healthier future starts at your counter. Our job is to make sure your pharmacy is ready for it, that the rest of the system can see it, and that you are not paying for it out of your own pocket.
With Care,
With Care,
With Care,
Pharm. Adeola Ayoola
Pharm. Adeola Ayoola
Pharm. Adeola Ayoola
Your fellow pharmacist, on behalf of everyone at Famasi.
Your fellow pharmacist, on behalf of everyone at Famasi.
Your fellow pharmacist, on behalf of everyone at Famasi.
P.S. Send this to one pharmacist who caught something this year that nobody thanked them for.
P.S. Send this to one pharmacist who caught something this year that nobody thanked them for.
P.S. Send this to one pharmacist who caught something this year that nobody thanked them for.
The best pharmacies grow
with Dispensary
The best pharmacies grow
with Dispensary
The best pharmacies grow
with Dispensary
The best pharmacies grow
with Dispensary
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Nigeria (English)
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3, James Orugbo Close, Chevyview, Off Chevron drive, Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
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Nigeria (English)
NDPR Data Compliant - 2024
3, James Orugbo Close, Chevyview, Off Chevron drive, Lekki, Lagos, Nigeria.
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