Despite the pharmacy practice requiring a four-year degree and license, it remains underrated in the Philippines. Pharmacies numbers are also limited with only approximately 30,000 in practice, spread thinly across communities, hospitals, and institutions.
“Most often, people would view pharmacists as just salespersons, but they don’t realize that we are healthcare professionals behind that counter,” said Ma. Gilda Saljay, the current president of the Philippine Pharmacists Association Inc. (PPHA), “Pharmacists are usually the first and often also the last line in healthcare you go to for health concerns. We see this an opportunity to give them the correct health information, medication counseling, and ways to address their health issues.”
Consequently, pharmacists though trained in their medical profession also need to continually train and be involved in capacity building and upskilling through Continuing Professional Development Programs, especially when it comes to their soft skills and communication skills. This is to keep up with the increasing demand in counseling patients on primary care needs or addressing common but non-critical conditions like colds and cough.
“Filipino pharmacists are trained to counsel patients, but there is also a need to empower them to gain the confidence to approach patients and address concerns in their respective pharmacies,” Gilda remarked. “This is the biggest challenge for all Filipino pharmacists, one we’re working towards improving. We want to empower and educate pharmacists with the right skills to help unburden the country’s healthcare system.”
In the interest of empowering and upskilling Filipino pharmacists to become indispensable and trusted healthcare providers, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare partnered with SwipeRx, a learning platform dedicated for pharmacists, and PPHA, the official organization representing Philippine pharmacists, to launch PharmAcademy—a learning tool for pharmacists.
PharmAcademy is a platform that provides learning modules for pharmacists to enhance their knowledge through Continuing Professional Development (CPD) and Digital Learning Campaigns and their soft skills and business acumen skills at zero cost and taken at their own pace. While already available to a limited number in the Philippines in the last three years, the launch of PharmAcademy on SwipeRX makes the learning tool available to all pharmacists and SwipeRX users across the country.
“We make sure that pharmacists can have the access to training materials to help them to step up and be what they are: healthcare providers,” Dr. Thorsten Berg, Scientific Affairs Head of Sanofi Consumer Healthcare AMEA (Asia/Middle East/Africa) said. “The PharmAcademy courses are also useful to their profession, so if they get on the platform and train, they get credit points to renew their licenses and continue their practice.”
Through PharmAcademy, Sanofi Consumer Healthcare, along with partners PPHA and SwipeRx, hopes to not only boost the credibility and recognition of the pharmacy profession in the country, but also empower Filipino pharmacists to embody their crucial role in the healthcare system.