The Ministry of Health, now Ministries of Medical Services (MoMS) and Public Health and Sanitation (MoPHS) offices are some of those places you will find yourself frequenting more frequently than you ever thought. It does not matter whether you are in public service or in the private sector; once in a while you need services at the ministry headquarters as well as the board. If you are a civil servant, then those are some of the places you are condemned to, and you will still need the people there to sort your issues whether you like them or not. So what are these things that make a visit to Afya house and related offices, a harrowing experience?
First of all, there are no clear directions given to a person who is new to the system. And even with that hurdle done away with, the biggest headache you will still have, and a potential time waster if not a real one, is getting the service you need. Let us not hide behind words here; getting service here means finding the person who provides the service. Even before this gentleman serves you, he would have to do the impossible, to convince himself that he is actually supposed to serve you. You will realize that making your approach formally doesn’t take you nowhere, just find out where he hangs out 'baada ya kazi'. That will take you somewhere, because his service is at his discretion; it is not, I repeat, it is not your right.
The most ideal situation for a pharmacist is when you need nothing from them, or even better still when they need something from you. In that case they will come to you, and depending on your side of the law and fortune, you can arm-twist them to meet your demands or cajole them out of your tight situation and fund better future ‘linkages’ with them. The second strategy is an art that you can only learn in your ownbest way over time, depending on your personal experiences; and that is not for rookies.
Woe unto you if you are demanding to be paid something, whether it is your salary or your company provided a service or delivered goods and you’re waiting for your cheque. That is when you will realize how many people we have in our midsts who like to reap where they have not sown. I think I will just leave it at that because this is a common knowledge issue, unless you are uninitiated. That is when those lazy fellows, who not only look hopeless, but actually are, suddenly wake up from their deep slumber. God, if only this 'innovativeness' could take them somewhere! The only sad end to this is they will remain hopeless to the last hour to their retirement, and then retire in wretchedness.
You go to the Board (Pharmacy and Poisons Board) and you will think what seriousness! That is when you are seeking to licence your private pharmacy practice. Then walk down the streets of the Kenyan towns, and see for yourself the fruits of the ‘hard work’ of your Board, and you will think what a waste! And that is, if you are very conservative, unlike me. Then you realise that all that drama they created when you were registering your own pharmacy was just mere posturing and that hard cash from the corrupt suddenly changes the rules. That is not about to change soon so long as people want to earn big for minuscule input. We have so many unproductive pharmacists who sit in that Board and in many other areas in the ministry where pharmacists are allowed to have a bed space. All these people will have lost all their childhood dreams to make an impact to the world by the time they book themselves accommodation in these ‘resorts’, with an exception of one dream, to be rich and successful. Now that is where the spanner works are thrown in, and the poor pharmacist wants to be rich, if not wealthy, by whichever means. The same story is repeated almost to the last man in many of the government agencies we have.
There is not better motivation than to have a massive benefit for little or no input; that is what we used to call 'efficiency', yes! It would have been manageable if only a few of us were seeking these shortcuts, but this is an epidemic because I really have to look hard to find those who don’t fancy the shortcuts. Isn’t this a dangerous trend, where your income is not supported by fundamentals? What if everybody chooses this path? Are the prospects here limitless?
Why is it that no one wants to pioneer a change that actually begins to reward working hard and/or working smart with success? Why are we tapping on a ‘resource’ which is rapidly diminishing? What happened to the brains that we used to have?
Everybody wants to be very successful and very wealthy, but if you do not create wealth on your way to becoming wealthy, then this strategy could turn out to be one big bubble. No one will need to break that bubble, it will burst itself. And those who reeled in it will be ruined.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Monday, September 22, 2008
When a pharmacist is overpaid?
Is there such a thing as an overpaid pharmacist? In the world of today when everyone is agitating for higher pay commensurate with the sacrifices made to train and continues practicing? But what about those of us who not only hate their work, but do not work at all? What about those of us who find a reason not to do what they were trained to do every hour of every day of every week of every month of every year until retirement do we part? What about whose only source of continuous medical education (or is it continuous professional development) are our local dailies? What about those who make technical appearances, go for trainings that do not benefit them or their institutions? What about those who can not only not carry out any reforms, but do not have the vaguest idea of what could constitute reforms in pharmacy?
It does not matter to me how little you earn, so long as you do not deserve it, you are overpaid. There are those pharmacist who want to be seen doing something, and there are those who actually do something, yet there are those who don’t care about doing anything at all. It is the last category who I think are grossly overpaid, while the first two are underpaid. It is only that the very first will have much more difficulties, justifying for more pay.
I have a few things I want to suggest that may help you spot, and eventually weed out these overpaid pharmacists. They have no clear gender predisposition for these breed of pharmacists, they just seem to be just as randomly distributed, as it is statistically possible. It is only that you just spot one as soon as you meet them. All you need is a five-minute chat, and you will know if a loser or somebody who can take our profession places has joined you.
So here are the red flags that could help signal the presence of the overpaid pharmacist:
• They always look for something to divert their attention from their main activity.
One such a big distraction is the newspaper, one thing many workers especially civil servants are paid to read.
• Need to carry out a ‘bank transaction’ just minutes after reporting to work
• The Sudoku, Crossword and Codeword geek
• Monday afternoon text messages to explain a Monday morning problem
• Locum is your first topic of their discussion on his(her) first arrival
• It takes two months or longer to 'look for a house'
• Still not conversant with the systems after more than one year in employment
• Non-committal on more opportunities to prove worth as a pharmacist
• All the workmates that he knows can be counted with the fingers of one hand
• Highly theoretical but very lethargic when it comes to putting the theory into practice
• He wants to be the Chief Pharmacist because ‘this dispensing can take me nowhere’ making you wonder why he wants to supervise something that take people nowhere
• Loves off-site training but not the service opportunities that come after it
• Wants to retire in civil service, if a public servant
Remember that in most cases, the pharmacist must show at least 5 of above tendencies to be firmly in the overpaid bracket. I'm saying that because I know of a few 'underpaid pharmacists' who would like to exercise their brain power (wordpower) with one or two crosswords a day. They may even take it further to a game of scrabble just to prove a point that they are indeed still much smarter than a 5th grader!
It does not matter to me how little you earn, so long as you do not deserve it, you are overpaid. There are those pharmacist who want to be seen doing something, and there are those who actually do something, yet there are those who don’t care about doing anything at all. It is the last category who I think are grossly overpaid, while the first two are underpaid. It is only that the very first will have much more difficulties, justifying for more pay.
I have a few things I want to suggest that may help you spot, and eventually weed out these overpaid pharmacists. They have no clear gender predisposition for these breed of pharmacists, they just seem to be just as randomly distributed, as it is statistically possible. It is only that you just spot one as soon as you meet them. All you need is a five-minute chat, and you will know if a loser or somebody who can take our profession places has joined you.
So here are the red flags that could help signal the presence of the overpaid pharmacist:
• They always look for something to divert their attention from their main activity.
One such a big distraction is the newspaper, one thing many workers especially civil servants are paid to read.
• Need to carry out a ‘bank transaction’ just minutes after reporting to work
• The Sudoku, Crossword and Codeword geek
• Monday afternoon text messages to explain a Monday morning problem
• Locum is your first topic of their discussion on his(her) first arrival
• It takes two months or longer to 'look for a house'
• Still not conversant with the systems after more than one year in employment
• Non-committal on more opportunities to prove worth as a pharmacist
• All the workmates that he knows can be counted with the fingers of one hand
• Highly theoretical but very lethargic when it comes to putting the theory into practice
• He wants to be the Chief Pharmacist because ‘this dispensing can take me nowhere’ making you wonder why he wants to supervise something that take people nowhere
• Loves off-site training but not the service opportunities that come after it
• Wants to retire in civil service, if a public servant
Remember that in most cases, the pharmacist must show at least 5 of above tendencies to be firmly in the overpaid bracket. I'm saying that because I know of a few 'underpaid pharmacists' who would like to exercise their brain power (wordpower) with one or two crosswords a day. They may even take it further to a game of scrabble just to prove a point that they are indeed still much smarter than a 5th grader!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Cute Dentists
Allow me to digress a bit for today if only it can help you relate better to my ideas about how we can be pharmacists that are more effective. And my focus today is on dentists, and how they have managed to remain afloat in this turbulent times. We have to give them that, our dentists really make up for their scary job by being some of the prettiest people in the medical and dental, and let me add pharmaceutical field. So I thought what a paradox-sweet pain for the patient. And now for the record, the beautiful girls seem to have pleasure holding the sharpest things on earth, (made of the toughest steel, I guess) on the faces of horrified patients. Well, at least the beautiful can also inflict pain with gusto but why did they all go to dental school. I must admit, however, that I never visit a dentist until it is too late, and I keep wondering when I’ll ever learn. I don’t think you will be surprised if I tell you I never look forward to visiting a dentist, neither do I enjoy the sounds that patients make as they are worked on as I nervously wait for my turn.
Dentists are more closely knit than pharmacists, who are even more closely knit than doctors are. And for doctors, it is a man-eat-man world, where ugly differences and needles shoving eclipse all that they have in common. If they were half as close as dentists were, KMA would have been one of the most powerful unity of purpose institutions, with an extraordinary potential for utter ruthlessness. Well, that can be a blessing or a curse, depending on what side of their possible negative energies you were going to be.
Well, as I seem to say, I don’t mind dating a dentist; they are one fly crop anyway. I highly recommend you hook up with one of them if you are not hitched yet. Did I hear somebody laugh? My reasons, as you can guess are very sketchy, and border much more on the elitist way in which the carry themselves. On top of wielding some of the scariest and sharpest metallic objects, they always have designer cookbooks in their purses. And they don’t carry around those books for nothing, they do what it says and to perfection. They like very tasty foods, some being sugary and some being vey sugary. And another one that blows me off is that they do not carry over their work to social meetings like many so-called professionals. I will be curtly surprised if one sickens me with the tales the different kinds of mouths they experience (let me not say see) everyday over dinner. Be prepared though for a flossing session after the last pieces of cutlery have been cleared off the table. But that is one little inconvenience when compared to our other colleagues idea of a date. I’m talking about those who talk about fine needle aspiration, spinal anesthesia, liver tissue biopsy or a patient with some interesting presentation that needed ‘consul’s’ or ‘senior registrar’s’ clever but unconventional intervention, but at a cultural night or in some very important date in some up market restaurant. I’m talking about that kind of talk that will prompt him to remove a notebook jacket and start making notes. That is one gross way to impress a man on a date, but as one close friend confides in me, it works as wicked as it is. The gentleman will find a reason to go through the books after the date, just in time for his call and ultimately impress the big man during the ward rounds, who himself comes to the ward with almost a sole intention of impressing the young ones. The mutual satisfaction that comes out of this all is enough aphrodisiac for all and everyone wins. What a happy ending!
One other thing that you probably didn't know about dentists is, the boys are so into physical fitness and good grooming; they actually go to the salon, not the ordinary barbershops. They love their wrist massages, and wear well manicured nails as they do for all the appendages that a skin can have (name four such). Girls listen, those boys cook, they wax, they spend, but they also earn big. They make their money, from working in at least two different towns, one of them being Nairobi, almost every day of every week of every month before fatigue sets in forcing them to slow down. They also like cars with feminine looks; those guys are so in touch with their feminine side! In the dentist circles, you are almost a loser if you stick in the public service for more than three years, for the pharmacists five, and for the doctors something much more.
So what do I really admire about dentists, that I think we can learn from them?
One is that they so mind their business. Their work does not come in the way of resources that bring so much friction for those who are involved, the reformists and the conformists. They do not ask to many questions about the hands that are found stuck in the till if they ever see, but just choose to look the other way. They prefer being on the blind spot of the administrators field of vision, and can disappear for days, and even weeks on end without being noticed.
Two, they do not engage in fights that are not worth fighting probably because they know the kind of tools they have at their disposal should the provocation become too much and the need to use them arises.
Three, they know their intrinsic value, and do not need to explain to anybody anything. They do not spend too much energy proving their relevance, they know their relevance and that counts. If you shout to them, they do not shout back, so you are left with two options: continue shouting alone indefinitely or forever hold your peace.
Four, they know that their job is not for the faint hearted. Who else injects their patients so many times before they can work on them?
Five, they are so elite and guarded to keep their four main secrets secret.
I want to be a dentist, or at least, have the dentists’ attitude towards life, for a change. I guess there is be something you might have learnt from me today, or at least from the dentists.
Have you?
Dentists are more closely knit than pharmacists, who are even more closely knit than doctors are. And for doctors, it is a man-eat-man world, where ugly differences and needles shoving eclipse all that they have in common. If they were half as close as dentists were, KMA would have been one of the most powerful unity of purpose institutions, with an extraordinary potential for utter ruthlessness. Well, that can be a blessing or a curse, depending on what side of their possible negative energies you were going to be.
Well, as I seem to say, I don’t mind dating a dentist; they are one fly crop anyway. I highly recommend you hook up with one of them if you are not hitched yet. Did I hear somebody laugh? My reasons, as you can guess are very sketchy, and border much more on the elitist way in which the carry themselves. On top of wielding some of the scariest and sharpest metallic objects, they always have designer cookbooks in their purses. And they don’t carry around those books for nothing, they do what it says and to perfection. They like very tasty foods, some being sugary and some being vey sugary. And another one that blows me off is that they do not carry over their work to social meetings like many so-called professionals. I will be curtly surprised if one sickens me with the tales the different kinds of mouths they experience (let me not say see) everyday over dinner. Be prepared though for a flossing session after the last pieces of cutlery have been cleared off the table. But that is one little inconvenience when compared to our other colleagues idea of a date. I’m talking about those who talk about fine needle aspiration, spinal anesthesia, liver tissue biopsy or a patient with some interesting presentation that needed ‘consul’s’ or ‘senior registrar’s’ clever but unconventional intervention, but at a cultural night or in some very important date in some up market restaurant. I’m talking about that kind of talk that will prompt him to remove a notebook jacket and start making notes. That is one gross way to impress a man on a date, but as one close friend confides in me, it works as wicked as it is. The gentleman will find a reason to go through the books after the date, just in time for his call and ultimately impress the big man during the ward rounds, who himself comes to the ward with almost a sole intention of impressing the young ones. The mutual satisfaction that comes out of this all is enough aphrodisiac for all and everyone wins. What a happy ending!
One other thing that you probably didn't know about dentists is, the boys are so into physical fitness and good grooming; they actually go to the salon, not the ordinary barbershops. They love their wrist massages, and wear well manicured nails as they do for all the appendages that a skin can have (name four such). Girls listen, those boys cook, they wax, they spend, but they also earn big. They make their money, from working in at least two different towns, one of them being Nairobi, almost every day of every week of every month before fatigue sets in forcing them to slow down. They also like cars with feminine looks; those guys are so in touch with their feminine side! In the dentist circles, you are almost a loser if you stick in the public service for more than three years, for the pharmacists five, and for the doctors something much more.
So what do I really admire about dentists, that I think we can learn from them?
One is that they so mind their business. Their work does not come in the way of resources that bring so much friction for those who are involved, the reformists and the conformists. They do not ask to many questions about the hands that are found stuck in the till if they ever see, but just choose to look the other way. They prefer being on the blind spot of the administrators field of vision, and can disappear for days, and even weeks on end without being noticed.
Two, they do not engage in fights that are not worth fighting probably because they know the kind of tools they have at their disposal should the provocation become too much and the need to use them arises.
Three, they know their intrinsic value, and do not need to explain to anybody anything. They do not spend too much energy proving their relevance, they know their relevance and that counts. If you shout to them, they do not shout back, so you are left with two options: continue shouting alone indefinitely or forever hold your peace.
Four, they know that their job is not for the faint hearted. Who else injects their patients so many times before they can work on them?
Five, they are so elite and guarded to keep their four main secrets secret.
I want to be a dentist, or at least, have the dentists’ attitude towards life, for a change. I guess there is be something you might have learnt from me today, or at least from the dentists.
Have you?
Monday, September 8, 2008
Is non-practice allowance a compensation enough?
We were having this social talk with a fellow pharmacist, and we were discussing about issues that any ordinary, young and ambitious pharmacist will be pondering on a day-to-day basis. We agreed on one thing without any reservation; that we were ‘grossly underpriced’ along with many other ‘wrong collared’ workers, and especially for us when it comes to the awarding of non-practice allowance. I have lost count of the different collars workers might be wearing to work: blue, white, pink or no collar. But whatever colour it may be, white for the white lab coat or white for the white shirt, we are not compensated enough for eschewing private practice. Anyway, we got talking, and among many other issues we discussed was how nonsensical the public sector has become. It is fast becoming a dustbin of ineffective souls, who are of no value anywhere else-their safe haven. What will all these people have done without the government foster?
The seemingly healthy competition between the two brand new ministries of health has degenerated into an unhealthy crisis. The new doctor to patients’ ratio is almost hitting an all time low (or high if you see it the other way round) because of the artificial shortages. Reason being more of your medical officers are being turned into ‘administrators’, something so many are so willing to do. Thankfully, administrative indicators, or whatever it may be called are yet to be crafted for this new crop of ‘administrators’. Their original work is just added on to those who are still ‘unfortunate’ to remain in the service delivery. The new one health centre and three dispensary districts (yes there are some like that) will have 3-4 absentee doctors, who do nothing but just sit in their offices, if they have one yet. One such ‘district’ does not have a single clinician seeing patients, because they are all managers. It makes me think these are the people the permanent remuneration board had in mind when they were crafting the non-practice allowance, because, they do not practice, literally.
If only someone can help me on this, much touted doctor-patients ratio thing. Does it still count to the ratio if all you do is sit in an office playing solitaire and waiting for the monthly reports from overworked nurses in hospitals and rural health facilities, if any, to come in and making yourself busy with staff files in the in-betwen period. Or bless that lucky month, when you are out for most of the time for trainings, meetings, seminars, and many other humdrum activities to keep you busy. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about the same thing, month in month out. What is important is that you are going out for free accommodation, free food, and free pocket money (or out of pocket-same thing) from USAID funded operatives. I have never seen a more generous international development government organization, as USAID, to a point that the many bogus organizations play around with the generosity American people with ingenious but sham data. Anyway, I did not intend to discuss this today; it is just that I hate empty pretence, if there is anything like that.
So what will happen if those in public sector decided to decline the non-practicing allowance in unanimity? Will they be allowed to engage in private practice? That will seem to be the logical thing to do, and if pharmacists take that unprecedented step, the situation could actually turn chaotic. Well, that is definitely one thing our policy makers have not thought so much about, and I cant wait to see how they will handle such a situation. Well, it won’t make so much difference for many doctors, especially the seniour ones, because they do practice anyway, to an extent that they even clock more hours than those in private practice. For them, it will be money thrown to the wind, but for pharmacists, it will be an ecstatic moment. Pharmacists in the public sector are the only ones who, are not only not allowed to practice privately, but actually do not practice because of strict enforcement of the policy by the regulators. And if they do, they carry out their illegal duties very subtly with a lot of insider dealings with the agents of the regulators, at a cost.
What we know is that if an individual pharmacist who has not resigned from public service attempts to run a private pharmacy, he will be stopped on his tracks by PPB, unless he is connected. Physicians, however, proudly display all their licences from MP&DB, along with other academic certificates on a conspicuous place in their office. They get away with both non-practice allowance and private practice fees, and they do not have to keep it in the hush-hush just as they do not have to declare to the taxman anything other their regular government salary.
Now what if, what if pharmacists decide, this allowance is not worth its name and said no thanks. Will it just be like, ok, if you don’t need it you can’t have it or will it result in an unprecedented situation with a new set of rules for engagement. Will we start negotiating hours of regular work, to give us room for our other work? Will we be told, no, no, please take it back and we will add you more, we need you.
Whatever is bound to happen thereafter, that is a step worth making. It is so much a better move than going on strike to demand for better pay, and make fool of yourself in the process.
Any other thoughts on this?
The seemingly healthy competition between the two brand new ministries of health has degenerated into an unhealthy crisis. The new doctor to patients’ ratio is almost hitting an all time low (or high if you see it the other way round) because of the artificial shortages. Reason being more of your medical officers are being turned into ‘administrators’, something so many are so willing to do. Thankfully, administrative indicators, or whatever it may be called are yet to be crafted for this new crop of ‘administrators’. Their original work is just added on to those who are still ‘unfortunate’ to remain in the service delivery. The new one health centre and three dispensary districts (yes there are some like that) will have 3-4 absentee doctors, who do nothing but just sit in their offices, if they have one yet. One such ‘district’ does not have a single clinician seeing patients, because they are all managers. It makes me think these are the people the permanent remuneration board had in mind when they were crafting the non-practice allowance, because, they do not practice, literally.
If only someone can help me on this, much touted doctor-patients ratio thing. Does it still count to the ratio if all you do is sit in an office playing solitaire and waiting for the monthly reports from overworked nurses in hospitals and rural health facilities, if any, to come in and making yourself busy with staff files in the in-betwen period. Or bless that lucky month, when you are out for most of the time for trainings, meetings, seminars, and many other humdrum activities to keep you busy. It doesn’t matter if you are talking about the same thing, month in month out. What is important is that you are going out for free accommodation, free food, and free pocket money (or out of pocket-same thing) from USAID funded operatives. I have never seen a more generous international development government organization, as USAID, to a point that the many bogus organizations play around with the generosity American people with ingenious but sham data. Anyway, I did not intend to discuss this today; it is just that I hate empty pretence, if there is anything like that.
So what will happen if those in public sector decided to decline the non-practicing allowance in unanimity? Will they be allowed to engage in private practice? That will seem to be the logical thing to do, and if pharmacists take that unprecedented step, the situation could actually turn chaotic. Well, that is definitely one thing our policy makers have not thought so much about, and I cant wait to see how they will handle such a situation. Well, it won’t make so much difference for many doctors, especially the seniour ones, because they do practice anyway, to an extent that they even clock more hours than those in private practice. For them, it will be money thrown to the wind, but for pharmacists, it will be an ecstatic moment. Pharmacists in the public sector are the only ones who, are not only not allowed to practice privately, but actually do not practice because of strict enforcement of the policy by the regulators. And if they do, they carry out their illegal duties very subtly with a lot of insider dealings with the agents of the regulators, at a cost.
What we know is that if an individual pharmacist who has not resigned from public service attempts to run a private pharmacy, he will be stopped on his tracks by PPB, unless he is connected. Physicians, however, proudly display all their licences from MP&DB, along with other academic certificates on a conspicuous place in their office. They get away with both non-practice allowance and private practice fees, and they do not have to keep it in the hush-hush just as they do not have to declare to the taxman anything other their regular government salary.
Now what if, what if pharmacists decide, this allowance is not worth its name and said no thanks. Will it just be like, ok, if you don’t need it you can’t have it or will it result in an unprecedented situation with a new set of rules for engagement. Will we start negotiating hours of regular work, to give us room for our other work? Will we be told, no, no, please take it back and we will add you more, we need you.
Whatever is bound to happen thereafter, that is a step worth making. It is so much a better move than going on strike to demand for better pay, and make fool of yourself in the process.
Any other thoughts on this?
Monday, September 1, 2008
Why cant we just own it…if we cannot take it anymore?
For sometimes now, I have been reading through profiles of some of the most outstanding pharmacists of the world. One striking thing about all of them is that they own a piece of this lucrative industry. Many pharmacists and doctors seem to like to be employees more than anything else.
Visit anywhere, in the society meetings, and their websites and in many other forums where people of common interest discuss, and chances are pay or salary issues will be on top of the list. People will shout themselves hoarse, demanding that it is demeaning to be paid this or that. Of course, that is true, and for our case, I really support better pay befitting the sacrifices one makes to train to be and continue practising as a pharmacist. But who are the real money-spinners of the pharmaceutical sector? Who are the real owners of the institutions we are proud to work in? Who own these hospitals (and therefore are entitled to hire administrators who can put pharmacist’s interests first) that we are desire to work in?
It disheartens me when I see a pharmacist who is 20 years plus in the profession, still struggling in employment like a pharmacist intern. Well, some of these circumstances may not be of the individual pharmacist’s making, but surely, with the more than 1900 registered pharmacist in Kenya, a good number of us should be standing out as the real forces in the sector. We were not made just to draw a salary, but also to write the cheque.
I do not know about you, but I think your value as a professional can only be as much as your stake in the profession.
We will not be discussing about poor remuneration (a topic I will like to discuss further in the future) if the people who largely drive the process were pharmacists. It is only bankers, industrialists, agriculturalists, politicians, accountants, or real estate businesspersons, the main investors either directly or by proxies, in the pharmaceutical industry who have the guts to pay pharmacists and other professionals what they want-and whether their employees are happy with it (or not) is immaterial. It is their investment anyway, and in the grand scheme of things, your input forms a very small-almost insignificant-part of the return on their investments. A more ‘compassionate’ one will probably listen to your minuscule cry for a salary increase but then vanquish you with longer working hours or higher targets to gain on the lost ground.
I do not think I have enough influence to start talking big, like Donald Trump or his antonym, Ombega(this may be an inappropriate example) does, but I think I can at least say the bolt of reality has stricken me at a relatively young age, professionally. This thought has probably come out of frustration on my part, for the lack of a pharmacist that I can really identify with. Prof Kokwaro is definitely high on my respect list, but he alone cannot settle my simmering uneasiness. He is probably the only pharmacist I know who can be on the interview panel for a pharmacy related job by his own right, and not by delegation. But I am crying for more who I can look up to. I have read about a pharmacist (not in this country) who specializes in pharmaceutical packaging materials as well as patients’ dispensing bottles. All our local manufacturers (or to be specific large-scale compounders) buy their packaging materials from manufacturers of generic packaging materials. We know that pharmaceuticals packaging manufacturers require specialist packaging, which can be ribbed for the visually impaired or have the right degree of opacity for the right drug. Even the secondary or the tertiary packaging need to be appealing, both to the patient or the one who does the dispensing, but only a pharmacist knows best what can be appealing. We are seriously in need of people who lead the profession from the front, to guide us venture into the so many fields that are available for us.
The industry is probably our best bet, as much as the community pharmacy is. The community pharmacy obviously has an impact on an individual pharmacist and a few people around that individual. It is also one place pharmacists have ruled, but not without the irrepressible quackery that they have learnt to live with. But the impact is not sufficient enough to secure pharmacists interests in the larger pharmaceutical industry. I like both the spirit and the drive of the Sphinx Pharmaceuticals guys. They are really trying to live the dream of local pharmacists dominating their own industries. The Cosmoses, Laboratories & Allied, and to some extent the Elyses of this country do not really strike me as pharmacists friendly industries. Cosmos, like many firms run by some people with an exaggerated sense of self importance, is a major showcase of the caste system where you will always be the untouchable, and I prefer to be out of the touch by avoiding there and similar environments altogether.
Caste system, or any culture that comes out of it, is so asinine, if you ask me-the bottom line is we are all equal. Why work with or for somebody who does not stand taking a meal with you at the same table? Why participate in creating more wealth for the protagonists of such a rigid and disgusting social system? The truth is these are just crude businessmen using whatever crude means at their disposal, including distastefully exploiting the pharmacists’ professional skills and knowledge of the systems, to make money. The compensation to the pharmacist can make you cry, not just because of its meagre amounts involved (especially for the kind of input and dependability of most processes on the pharmacist) but because the pharmacist actually accepts to be subjected to such embarrassment. Who really cares about these so-called ‘laws of Manu’? Beta Healthcare and to some extent Dawa, however, seem to be doing something much more than just making money. I have a lot of respect for GSK as a multinational and the impact they have on the humanity. But GSK, the Kenyan chapter, does not impress me as a pharmacist, both in terms of its workings and as a centre of training of pharmacists. They are even reluctant to take intern pharmacists for training because they are just a little more than a distribution branch and do not manufacture much as such. And it is easy to know why; it under the siege of non-pharmacists who will do anything that is self-perpetuating. GSK is so dominated by commercial interests of its rich owners, yes, but the more worrying are their equally if not more appalling managers, who their only remote association with pharmacy is the products they know little about. Of course, they will defend their ignorance to death. That is what happens when strangers are in charge in your industry. You cannot blame them-they are just playing the game.
What must we do, and now?
Now we need to be in control of every sector that employs us, so that we can improve the terms of service for our younger colleagues. With pay issues out of the way, at least the only thing that they will have to do, as individuals, is to perform. We can then be able to do audits of all aspects of our practice that will be our performance benchmarks. This can happen even at the PSK level, just as RPSGB is attempting to do amongst its members, who happen to be all the pharmacists practising in that country, without exception. But first things first, let’s begin the race for the ownership of this industry, before we can successfully indoctrinate the new way of practising pharmacy into all pharmacists.
This thing of sucking up to others has to end. We can be entrepreneurs just like anybody else. So go out there and look for money from wherever you can, like agriculture, horticulture, sugar industry, dealerships, goat business, supply of goods and provision of services, publishing etc. Then bring back your fortune and invest in the pharmaceutical sector, from the packaging materials, manufacturing, research and drug development, clinical trials, (the infamous) marketing, distribution, wholesale and retail pharmacy, institutional patient care, private patient care, consultancies, education, the list is endless. You will be surprised with the results, just as much as you will be pleased with it.
Just take it from me, the many good things we want to do will be a mirage if we are not in control of our sector. Nobody else cares about pharmacy practice, other than the money involved. Let us deny them the money, and other good things will follow.
Visit anywhere, in the society meetings, and their websites and in many other forums where people of common interest discuss, and chances are pay or salary issues will be on top of the list. People will shout themselves hoarse, demanding that it is demeaning to be paid this or that. Of course, that is true, and for our case, I really support better pay befitting the sacrifices one makes to train to be and continue practising as a pharmacist. But who are the real money-spinners of the pharmaceutical sector? Who are the real owners of the institutions we are proud to work in? Who own these hospitals (and therefore are entitled to hire administrators who can put pharmacist’s interests first) that we are desire to work in?
It disheartens me when I see a pharmacist who is 20 years plus in the profession, still struggling in employment like a pharmacist intern. Well, some of these circumstances may not be of the individual pharmacist’s making, but surely, with the more than 1900 registered pharmacist in Kenya, a good number of us should be standing out as the real forces in the sector. We were not made just to draw a salary, but also to write the cheque.
I do not know about you, but I think your value as a professional can only be as much as your stake in the profession.
We will not be discussing about poor remuneration (a topic I will like to discuss further in the future) if the people who largely drive the process were pharmacists. It is only bankers, industrialists, agriculturalists, politicians, accountants, or real estate businesspersons, the main investors either directly or by proxies, in the pharmaceutical industry who have the guts to pay pharmacists and other professionals what they want-and whether their employees are happy with it (or not) is immaterial. It is their investment anyway, and in the grand scheme of things, your input forms a very small-almost insignificant-part of the return on their investments. A more ‘compassionate’ one will probably listen to your minuscule cry for a salary increase but then vanquish you with longer working hours or higher targets to gain on the lost ground.
I do not think I have enough influence to start talking big, like Donald Trump or his antonym, Ombega(this may be an inappropriate example) does, but I think I can at least say the bolt of reality has stricken me at a relatively young age, professionally. This thought has probably come out of frustration on my part, for the lack of a pharmacist that I can really identify with. Prof Kokwaro is definitely high on my respect list, but he alone cannot settle my simmering uneasiness. He is probably the only pharmacist I know who can be on the interview panel for a pharmacy related job by his own right, and not by delegation. But I am crying for more who I can look up to. I have read about a pharmacist (not in this country) who specializes in pharmaceutical packaging materials as well as patients’ dispensing bottles. All our local manufacturers (or to be specific large-scale compounders) buy their packaging materials from manufacturers of generic packaging materials. We know that pharmaceuticals packaging manufacturers require specialist packaging, which can be ribbed for the visually impaired or have the right degree of opacity for the right drug. Even the secondary or the tertiary packaging need to be appealing, both to the patient or the one who does the dispensing, but only a pharmacist knows best what can be appealing. We are seriously in need of people who lead the profession from the front, to guide us venture into the so many fields that are available for us.
The industry is probably our best bet, as much as the community pharmacy is. The community pharmacy obviously has an impact on an individual pharmacist and a few people around that individual. It is also one place pharmacists have ruled, but not without the irrepressible quackery that they have learnt to live with. But the impact is not sufficient enough to secure pharmacists interests in the larger pharmaceutical industry. I like both the spirit and the drive of the Sphinx Pharmaceuticals guys. They are really trying to live the dream of local pharmacists dominating their own industries. The Cosmoses, Laboratories & Allied, and to some extent the Elyses of this country do not really strike me as pharmacists friendly industries. Cosmos, like many firms run by some people with an exaggerated sense of self importance, is a major showcase of the caste system where you will always be the untouchable, and I prefer to be out of the touch by avoiding there and similar environments altogether.
Caste system, or any culture that comes out of it, is so asinine, if you ask me-the bottom line is we are all equal. Why work with or for somebody who does not stand taking a meal with you at the same table? Why participate in creating more wealth for the protagonists of such a rigid and disgusting social system? The truth is these are just crude businessmen using whatever crude means at their disposal, including distastefully exploiting the pharmacists’ professional skills and knowledge of the systems, to make money. The compensation to the pharmacist can make you cry, not just because of its meagre amounts involved (especially for the kind of input and dependability of most processes on the pharmacist) but because the pharmacist actually accepts to be subjected to such embarrassment. Who really cares about these so-called ‘laws of Manu’? Beta Healthcare and to some extent Dawa, however, seem to be doing something much more than just making money. I have a lot of respect for GSK as a multinational and the impact they have on the humanity. But GSK, the Kenyan chapter, does not impress me as a pharmacist, both in terms of its workings and as a centre of training of pharmacists. They are even reluctant to take intern pharmacists for training because they are just a little more than a distribution branch and do not manufacture much as such. And it is easy to know why; it under the siege of non-pharmacists who will do anything that is self-perpetuating. GSK is so dominated by commercial interests of its rich owners, yes, but the more worrying are their equally if not more appalling managers, who their only remote association with pharmacy is the products they know little about. Of course, they will defend their ignorance to death. That is what happens when strangers are in charge in your industry. You cannot blame them-they are just playing the game.
What must we do, and now?
Now we need to be in control of every sector that employs us, so that we can improve the terms of service for our younger colleagues. With pay issues out of the way, at least the only thing that they will have to do, as individuals, is to perform. We can then be able to do audits of all aspects of our practice that will be our performance benchmarks. This can happen even at the PSK level, just as RPSGB is attempting to do amongst its members, who happen to be all the pharmacists practising in that country, without exception. But first things first, let’s begin the race for the ownership of this industry, before we can successfully indoctrinate the new way of practising pharmacy into all pharmacists.
This thing of sucking up to others has to end. We can be entrepreneurs just like anybody else. So go out there and look for money from wherever you can, like agriculture, horticulture, sugar industry, dealerships, goat business, supply of goods and provision of services, publishing etc. Then bring back your fortune and invest in the pharmaceutical sector, from the packaging materials, manufacturing, research and drug development, clinical trials, (the infamous) marketing, distribution, wholesale and retail pharmacy, institutional patient care, private patient care, consultancies, education, the list is endless. You will be surprised with the results, just as much as you will be pleased with it.
Just take it from me, the many good things we want to do will be a mirage if we are not in control of our sector. Nobody else cares about pharmacy practice, other than the money involved. Let us deny them the money, and other good things will follow.
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