DURBAN - The Independent Community Pharmacy Association of South Africa (ICPA) says funds have been pledged for the Independent Pharmacy Emergency Fund (Ipef), to re-establish business operations for pharmacies, following the looting and violence that took place in July in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The ICPA, which established the Ipef, said 87 independently-owned community pharmacies were left counting the costs after their pharmacies had been looted and some had been destroyed.
The Ipef target is to raise R20 million. It said to date R10m had been pledged and R6m has already been paid into the fund. Aspen and Zydus donated R1.5m each with Adcock Ingram, Discovery and PSSA each donating R1m. Bidvest has pledged R1m.
The ICPA said other donations were from a Kharwastan business – R25 000; Effingham Pharmacy – R20 000; and PSSA KZN branch – R20 000 while Clinical Research Management, TLC, John Forbes Pharmacy, Greytown Drug Store and Algoa Pharmacy each contributed R10 000. Individuals and other ICPA members together donated an additional R50 000.
The Solidarity Fund contacted the ICPA and a request for R10m has been submitted. The ICPA said the fund had the task of opening as many pharmacies as quickly as possible to restore much-needed pharmacy services in the affected areas.
Jackie Maimin, ICPA chief executive, said the unforeseen closure of these independent pharmacies due to extensive damage had a knock-on effect in the communities that these pharmacies serve.
“Important relationships between the patient and their pharmacist are established, often over years of service. For many of these communities, the pharmacy is their first, closest and most convenient point of contact for essential pharmaceutical care and services. Community pharmacies operate over long hours and weekends and are often owner-run, which means that you usually meet the same pharmacist on every visit.
“Pharmacies that closed due to damage following the unrest meant that the local community could not access their regular pharmacy to obtain essential services. Some of these pharmacies were in under-resourced and impoverished areas,” said Maimin.
The ICPA said pharmacies are granted licences to operate according to need, and by closing down a pharmacy suddenly without a contingency plan, the needs of that community were suddenly not being met, leaving a “void” in the delivery of essential health-care services to the public.
Maimin said: “By getting these pharmacies open and back up and running, we can restore a critical point of contact for the public to continue accessing their essential pharmaceutical care. That patient-pharmacist relationship is crucial, especially when there are patients who rely on their community pharmacist to give them advice on lifestyle choices, management of chronic illness and medication, as well as health screening to avoid developing chronic illness.
“The loss of a pharmacy to a community is devastating. Patients are forced to find alternatives, or, unfortunately, are at risk of becoming non-compliant with their chronic medication for serious illnesses such as cancers, HIV/TB management, diabetes or hypertension.”
THE MERCURY