Dodoma — THE Pharmaceutical Society of Tanzania (PST) has welcomed a move by the government to suspend short term causes for pharmacists, advising that if possible the courses should be scrapped completely.
The advice was issued on Thursday by PST president, Fadhili Hezekiah during the ongoing three-day 52 Scientific Conference which coincided with the society's Annual General Meeting scheduled to be convened today in the country's capital, Dodoma.
Themed 'Driving Innovation and Investment to Enhance Access in Pharmaceutical Sector and Beyod' the conference drew about 700 participants from all regions of the mainland Tanzania.
The conference was graced by Deputy Minister for Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups, Mwanaid Ali Khamis.
According to the PST president his society was proposing a minimum education for practicing pharmacists to begin at the Diploma level, in efforts to intensify professionalism.
Mr Hezekiah used the platform to insist on professionalism by all pharmacists in the country in order to maintain trust from the clients they serve.
He further urged the public to refrain from tarnishing the image of the entire profession should any of them fail to discharge his/her duties professionally, advising that such persons should be treated individually.
Equally, he said, the government should look at the proper legal ways to give PST the mandate to take stern actions to pharmacists who were tarnishing the image of the profession instead of only ending up issuing warnings to those contravening ethics.
At the event, The Chairperson of the Board of the Medical Stores Department (MSD), Rosemary Slaa advised pharmacists in the country to ensure that they were abiding by ethics guiding their profession as they were important persons dealing directly with peoples' health and lives.
Her sentiments were echoed by Acting Director of Medical Products Control (DMC) at the Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA), Dr Yona Hebron, who said the government was fully committed to protecting the health of all people living in the country.
