Role of Pharmacist in Pakistan as compared to developed countries

The precise role of pharmacist in the health setting is altering and varies significantly from region to region. During the past few years, the profession of pharmacy has significantly expanded in terms of delivery of professional services and now has been recognized as an important profession in the multidisciplinary provision of health care. In contrast to the situation in developed countries, the pharmacists in Pakistan are still underutilized and their role as health care providers and professionals is not deemed important, either by the community or other health care providers.

Although pharmacy profession in Pakistan is continuously evolving; the health care system of Pakistan has yet to recognize the role of Pharmacists. The pharmacist community of Pakistan is not able to fully execute their potentials and is still struggling for the recognition of the importance of their position in health care system. This lack of recognition is due to the lack of interaction of Pharmacists with the public.

This is an alarming situation for the pharmacist community. The main problem being faced currently is the shortage of pharmacists in pharmacies. Moreover, their services are directed more towards management of Pharmacies rather than towards customer/patient service provision.

As compared to the developed countries like UK, USA etc., the pharmacist in Pakistan are not treated as trusted health care providers. Foreign Pharmacists have an important role in giving advice to patients regarding the proper use of medicine but in our country, their role in patient counseling is totally neglected.

Similarly, the pharmacists working abroad are provided with huge research opportunities but in Pakistan, research opportunities in the field of Pharmacy are almost negligible.

Access to, and proper usage of medicine is among the major health sector problems in Pakistan and the health sector is unable to cope effectively with most drug related issues. Along with the lack of human resources, the profession seriously lacks government's interest. Pharmacists aren’t provided with job security and mostly the pharmacists are unemployed or working on very low wages.

Thus, the involvement of skillful and authoritative Pharmacists in therapeutic procedures is necessary to improve appropriate use of medicine, eliminate medication error, and make proper use of the medicine budget by efficient management and most importantly, implementation of drug laws. Legal reform is needed to achieve the health objective and to achieve acceptance of the pharmacy profession as an integral part of a well-structured health care system.