Clinical Pharmacist aur chirag dekhana!

Mana humari maadari zabaan urdu hai, par exam kay paper say lay kar visa apply karnay tak, har jaga angrazi hi istamal hoti hai... tou bahi angraiz nahi hai, bus angraizi istamal kar rahay hai....

The follow piece is especially written for my pharmacist brothers and sisters. Rest of you can just enjoy the ride and in best case scenario, be an inspired Pakistani.

More than a decade ago, when I enrolled in pharmacy program, least did I know what will my future be like. For most part, the goal was to keep up, in the line of study and further education, aka, degree after degree. The reason being that in the land of the pure, the more degrees you have, is considered proportional to the security of your future and development of your career. As most of us students land into pharmacy after spilling over from the cup of MBBS, most of us are just hungover the dreams of becoming doctor, in some capacity.

Down the road, I came across the option of landing in Healthcare, more specifically hospital based, clinical pharmacy. At the time of my graduation, a career in clinical pharmacy, was supposedly and ironically, not in the hospital, where all the action was suppose to be but in academics, which would rather involve me having a masters and then a PhD degree, in clinical pharmacy, and succeeding in getting a post for lecturer at some university. So, one would end up teaching something you don’t have in practice. Though, if one were enthusiastic, you be starting from the scratch, and unfortunately, against all odds. Luckily, now, as you read this piece, realities have changed for good, a number of hospitals across the country have clinical pharmacy departments in them.

To the layman, a clinical pharmacist is someone who helps in resolving issues in patient therapy, such as dose adjustment, drug interactions, adverse effects of drugs, etc., and is an active member of the medical team looking after the patient. As for you, the pharmacist fraternity…. ahem! Clinical pharmacist!? Naam tou suna hoga! Ab suraj ko kiya chirag dekhana…

America has been a major influence, in the making of our perception, of what a clinical pharmacist is. And when we think about it, I wish to direct your attention to the part many of us, especially me, were not aware about, regarding the clinical pharmacy. In America, ever since, the development of clinical pharmacy, the focus had been towards enhancing the role and capacity of the pharmacist. In name of developing advance patient care, in 1976, a body was formed by American Pharmaceutical Association, Board of Pharmacy Specialties, which tested the skills of clinical pharmacists and hence, helped in differentiating the cream in the field, from the rest. Therefore, giving them credibility and confidence.
In matter of facts, as of today, board specialties are offered in, Ambulatory Care Pharmacy, Cardiology Pharmacy, Compounded Sterile Preparations Pharmacy, Critical Care Pharmacy, Geriatric Pharmacy, Infectious Diseases Pharmacy, Nuclear Pharmacy, Nutrition Support Pharmacy, Oncology Pharmacy, Pediatric Pharmacy, Pharmacotherapy, Psychiatric Pharmacy and Solid Organ Transplantation Pharmacy. Up till 2019 there are 46000 board certified pharmacist across the world. The interesting bit that I like to share is that there are 3 incredible pharmacists, who have 5 board specialties credentials individially (which are the highest recorded up till now) are, Elsayed Murad Younis, Donald E. Shamblin II and Moh'Dnour Mahmoud Bani Younes. When we want to talk about Pakistan, yes! The land of the pure too have its share of board certified Pharmacists. Amjad Khan, a gulf based Pakistani has passed 3 board specialties. While many other Pakistanis who have passed board exam are mainly settled in Gulf or America. Currently, Pakistan has 11 board specialty-credentials-holding-qualified-clinical-pharmacists working in country, 7 in Pharmacotherapy, 1 each in, Infectious diseases, Geriatric Pharmacy, Nutrition Support Pharmacy, and Oncology Pharmacy. The current Board Specialty qualified clinical pharmacists include, Awaisullah Babar, Ghulam Mujtaba, Gul Ambreen, Muhammad Rehan Khan, Nida Ayoub, Saba Mazhar, Sidrah Andleeb, Shahzad Akram and Zafar Iqbal. Well do you know, what the best part is, patriotically speaking, India has no Board Specialty qualified pharmacist. So…
Pakistan: 11, India: 0
Pakistan’s achievement does not end here, Shaukat Khanum Cancer Memorial Hospital and Research Centre is now running the only, American Society of Health-system Pharmacist (ASHP)’s accredited, International Pharmacy Practice Residency(IPPR) program in Asia, under the leadership of Mr. Omar Akhlaq Bhutta, Associate Director Pharmacy. This is a structured training program that trains resident pharmacist in-line with the PGY – 1 program(run in America under ASHP), in accordance with the needs of the healthcare system in JCI-accredited hospital in Pakistan. Metaphorically speaking, this seems like a spark that is going to set fire to the rain, as such high quality structure training program, in future, will be run at more number of hospitals in the country. As a result, we will witness high quality clinical pharmacy departments across Pakistan.
So if you are a Pharmacy student thinking about future and career, or a hospital pharmacist in pursuit of better prospects and a great learning opportunity…. Plan your Board!
You can attempt your board exam in Pakistan and gain the credentials. Each board exam has its own requirements. For instance in case of Pharmacotherapy exam (BCPS), if you have completed 1 year IPPR at SKMCH&RC or you have 3 years of pharmacotherapy based clinical experience in Pakistan, you are eligible. The exam costs around $600 and it’s taken biannually.

So, what are you waiting for, Pakistan ka naam roshan karo!! Your country needs you.

p.s. wo yaad hai na 3 idiots ki line… Baba ranchoddas sahi kehte the... Baccha kabil bano kabil.. Kamyabi to sali jhak maar ke peeche ayegi