MANILA, Philippines — Finally! After three years of having to deal with COVID-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) has finally declared the end of the pandemic. For a lot of people, who had never experienced a pandemic before, those three years had been the single scariest time of their lives.
The first year, in particular, had everybody standing on needles and pins, not knowing what hit them and scared that with a single wrong move, they might get the disease which, back then, was like a death sentence for anyone who got it. An unknown disease — and therefore with no known cure — it filled the beds of hospitals with patients and became the center of attention of doctors and other health professionals, and practically put all other illnesses at bay. To be treated later. Not now. It’s just COVID-19 cases for now.
To the point that people who had other health problems had nobody to turn to. Doctors were either busy being front-liners in COVID treatment facilities, or they were, like everyone else, quarantined at home with their families and unavailable to patients. It was only towards the end of the pandemic that they felt safe enough to make themselves available through online consultations.
And there lies the problem. The pandemic revealed the stresses and the gaps of the healthcare system, especially in developing countries like the Philippines. With no doctors available, patients felt like they had no choice but to put their illnesses on hold, in the process prolonging their agony and allowing their condition to worsen. So, even after the pandemic had been declared over, the struggles of the healthcare system experienced during the pandemic are far from over.
According to the University of the Philippines National Health Institute, six out of 10 Filipinos die without seeing a doctor. The study emphasizes that Filipinos shoulder unforeseen health expenses out of pocket, thus driving many into poverty due to lack of resources and means to cover for costs. According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), in 2021 alone, every Filipino spent nearly P10,000 a year for health-related goods and services.
While access to proper healthcare in the Philippines is a continuing struggle, Filipinos fail to realize that there is an untapped solution right under their noses — their friendly neighborhood pharmacists.
“For every Filipino who sees a doctor, 10 should visit their local pharmacist, that is 10 times the opportunity for Filipinos to get access to healthcare and get educated about self-care, and yet they fail to maximize their pharmacists’ potential,” said Maria Valentina Sposito, Head of ASEA for Sanofi Consumer Healthcare.
Filipino pharmacists are under-utilized
Despite the pharmacy practice requiring a four-year degree and license, which Filipino pharmacists comply with, they remain to be underrated in the Philippines. Their number is 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 (PPhA), “Pharmacists are usually the first and often also the last line in healthcare you go to for health concerns. We see this as 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,” Saljay said. “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.”
“Globally, pharmacists are seen as experts in optimal outcomes for prescribed medicines and the cornerstone for the effective provision of the universal healthcare. In the Philippines, people are still stuck on the idea that pharmacists are transactional instead of actual healthcare professionals,” Dr. Thorsten Berg, Scientific Affairs Head of Sanofi Consumer Healthcare AMEA (Asia/Middle East/Africa) added, “We want to shift the perception people have of Philippine pharmacists because we see their potential as a vital access point for healthcare advice in the community, thus relieving the burden on other channels of the 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 step up and be what they are: healthcare providers,” Dr. Berg noted. “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.”