Pharmacy practice requires radical change

The training of pharmacists in Kenya is a significant investment and those who graduate are a scarce but valuable resource for the attainment of Vision 2030. Yet the training and deployment of these health professionals is not well aligned with our national development aspirations.

On the one hand, there is an acute shortage of pharmacists. According to a recent Ministry of Health report, there is only one pharmacist per 20,000 people, with about 1,000 pharmacists trained since independence against a requirement of 6,000.

The pharmacists work either in the public sector, for non-governmental organisations, or are engaged in retail pharmaceutical services, where they apply only a fraction of their acquired skills.

On the other hand, there is insufficient orientation of pharmacists towards discovery and manufacturing, essential cogs in the wheels of industrialisation. As a result, there is limited capacity in Kenya for discovering new pharmaceutical technologies and products. Against the astronomical cost of training a pharmacist, it is no wonder that the return on investment for pharmacy practice in Kenya is dismal.

So, how can we redeem this dire situation? As we begin to secure our middle-income economy status, we need to maximise the potential of the pharmaceutical industry by strategically investing in three policy reforms.

First, we need to invest in research and development, especially in precision medicine such as proteomics and genomics.

TARGETED TREATMENT

The practice of medicine and public health globally are transforming towards targeted treatment using chemicals with the highest potency, but with the least side effects.

If we adopt this approach, it will position Kenya to be an industrial hub for pharmaceutical products, vaccines, and medical devices. This has been done successfully in India, where a combination of technology and reasonably affordable human capital has enabled that country to become an industry giant.

The Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya must, therefore, provide leadership to mobilise the government and the private sector to chart a long-term strategy to enable the country to achieve Vision 2030 ahead of schedule.

We could learn from the rapid adoption of information technology such as M-Pesa to build a vibrant pharmaceutical industry based on innovation, entrepreneurship, and broader development goals.

Second, we need to diversify the orientation of our university curriculum. The current training of pharmacists is clinically-oriented.

As a country with a huge disease burden, we need to inject a public health mindset in schools of pharmacy to enable them to provide advanced courses such as supply chain management, leadership, and public health research.

This would enable the next generation of pharmacists to have a major impact on population health by building a critical mass of public health leaders in pharmaceutical-related fields.

Third, pharmacy career choices should be based on passion rather than academic grades. The current practice where almost all pharmacists rush to establish retail chemists upon graduation must be halted. We need future pharmacists who feel inspired by discovery rather than business.

Dr Cherutich is the chairman of the Public Health Society of Kenya. ([email protected]).