Local job market faces shortage of pharmacists

CEBU, Philippines - In the Philippine setup, there should be more pharmacy aides than pharmacists taking into account the difficulty in passing the licensure exam for the latter.

This observation was given by Eloisa Hernandez who is a registered pharmacist and a long-time member of the academe.

Hernandez has spent 12 years in the academe and passed the licensure exam for pharmacy 15 years ago after attaining a baccalaureate degree in the same year. Currently, she works as the pharmacy department head of the Rose Institute of Cosmetology and Pharmacy of the Cebu-based business conglomerate, the Rose Group of Companies.

In an interview during the facility tour conducted for the local media, Hernandez mentioned that the pharmacy industry is also challenged with the lack of pharmacists and pharmacy aides in the country.

She cited that only 52 percent of the pharmacy course takers were reported to pass the board exam last year.

She said that there is a shortage of pharmacists in the Philippine job market but since there are only few board passers, “it is also difficult for companies to get a pharmacist.”

What worsens the situation, she lamented, is that most of the licensed pharmacists either leave the country to work overseas or practice their profession in private hospitals or in the corporate world instead of working for pharmacies or public hospitals.

She also said that unlike other countries, there should be more pharmacy assistants than pharmacists in the Philippines.

“In a typical pharmacy set-up here, we need one pharmacist and one or two more pharmacy assistants in an eight-hour duty,” she said.

As Hernandez explained, pharmacy aides are considered to be highly-trained healthcare workers who assist in a pharmacy and work under the supervision of a registered pharmacist.

She further clarified the wrong notion of the public that pharmacy assistants are similar with sales clerks in retail stores who provide customer service and are only trained to produce sales.

“They are not just sales clerks. Pharmacy aides practice pharmacy services beyond customer service. They are very well-trained to become competent as healthcare workers. They maximize both the business and healthcare aspects,” she said.

The only thing that pharmacy aides cannot do, Henandez said, is to conduct clinical patient counselling which is the responsibility of the pharmacists.

She cited that pharmacy aides are allowed to provide the proper dosage administration and medication knowledge since they are well-trained on such matters along with pharmacy calculations, bookkeeping, basic accounting, inventory control, merchandising, and supervisory skills.

Under the Philippine Pharmacy Law, one must take the four-year pharmacy course in a university or college mandated by the Commission of Higher Education (CHED) in order to be eligible to practice as a pharmacist. One should also finish 960 hours of internship in different areas of pharmacy and should pass the pharmacy board exam.

To become a pharmacy assistant, on the other hand, one who may either be a high school graduate or a college undergraduate must take a 271-hour pharmacy services course in an institution accredited by the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) and pass the TESDA assessment.

Hernandez said that a pharmacy aide also has the opportunity to work for a hospital pharmacy and open his own drugstore although he will still need a registered pharmacist.

The Rose Institute of Cosmetology and Pharmacy is believed to be the first international institute for beauty and pharmacy studies in Cebu, offering short-term vocational courses in pharmacy associate, pharmacy services, hairdressing and beauty care.

The lack of skilled pharmacy assistants and cosmetologists in the country prompted the Rose Group of Companies to put up an institute of beauty and pharmacy in Cebu.

This is also to help supplement the growth of its businesses in the years ahead.  All graduates of Rose Institute are guaranteed to have a job in its affiliate companies such as Salon de Rose and Rose Pharmacy.

At present, there are 214 Rose Pharmacy branches nationwide. 60 of which are found in Cebu. According to Hernandez, Rose Pharmacy employs around 100 workers every month.

To date, Rose Pharmacy has employed more than 400 newly-hired applicants this year and expects to need 1500 more new pharmacy assistants by next year. By 2015, they plan to have 500 total number of outlets nationwide.

The pharmacy associate degree which will be offered soon shall run for two years while the pharmacy service short course runs from three to six months.

Rose Institute currently trains eight students for the pharmacy services course. They are expected to finish the training by next month.

The technical-vocational school is situated in a three-storey building owned by the business conglomerate along Colon Street.

The pharmacy department has seven classrooms that are divided into five lecture rooms, a simulation room and a learning resource center. /JOB (FREEMAN)