By Mehboob Inamdar
Aurangabad, Sept 24:
All those who fall ill visit a chemist and druggist's shop after the doctor’s prescription one or more times in life. Their importance was limited in people’s life to till 2019.
The significance of pharmacists was realised after they worked in private or Government firms and kept dispensing medicines to people day and night during the Covid outbreak. They turned out to be the top Covid warriors after doctors working on the frontline.
World Pharmacy Day is celebrated on September 25 to promote and advocate the role of pharmacists and pharmaceutical industries across the globe. This year, the theme is 'Pharmacy United in Action for Healthier World' which showcases pharmacy's positive impact on health around the world and to further strengthen the solidarity among the profession. Talking to this newspaper, researchers, pharmacists and academicians said that it is nearly impossible to imagine life today without pharmacists who make people’s lives healthier.
Dr Abubakar Bawazir, inchrage Principal of Y B Chavan College of Pharmacy, said that the role of pharmacists in Covid 19 was no less than a ‘Superhero’.
“As lockdown was being observed throughout the world several times, the pharmacists were performing frontlines roles in the pandemic. It is rightly said "It is easy to get a thousand prescriptions, but hard to get one single remedy," he said.
The principal said that it’s not wrong to say here that waves of this pandemic had moved the underestimated role of a pharmacist in a different direction, particularly in India where the role of a pharmacist was believed to be limited to dispensing and compounding drugs only. “The role of a pharmacist in this war against COVID-19 was just like an armature provider without whom the war cannot be won,” he added.
Dr Suhas Kakade, a pharmacist and scientist, said pharmacists are healthcare professionals and always ready to help by practising in pharmacy. “Pharmacists are involved in all the medicines delivered to patients and provide an opportunity to promote the pharmacy profession. It's a way to give tributes to all pharmacists for the excellent role they play in improving global health. We have seen in the pandemic when all the doors were closed only pharmacist was there to save all of us. So, proud of being a pharmacist,” he added.