Amrita School of Pharmacy observed National Pharmacy Week from` December 16– 21, 2013 at the Health Sciences Campus. This year’s theme was The Pharmacist: A Healthcare Professional.

The programs started with the inauguration by Dr. M. R. R. Bhagwanth, Director / Senior Vice President, Ciba Specialties, Thailand, followed by talks of Dr. Siddharth Mujumdar Principal Scientist, Continuous Manufacturing Unit, Technical R&D, NOVARTIS PHARMA AG, Switzerland and Dr. Swapna Bhagavanth, Scientific Communications. A key note address on the topic Role of pharmacist in ensuring Drug Safety in Pregnancy was delivered by Dr. Johnson George, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Monash University, Australia.

Faculty members and students organized various activities in the next few days. They visited Ernakulam District Hospital’s Palliative Care Unit and provided counseling for patients. At the General Hospital, about 285 patients were educated on disease conditions, appropriate medication use, lifestyle modifications and techniques for the usage of special devices such as inhaler. Leaflets were provided for the patients and caregivers on general patient education, asthma, diabetes, dyslipidemia and hypertension. Home to home counseling was conducted during December 18 – 20, 2013 covering over 145 homes and leaflets were provided to each home as well.

A visit to Holy Cross Senior Citizen home at Kakkanad, Kochi, was organized on December 21, 2013. General information on safe use of medications was provided along with personalized medication counseling for 35 residents. Awareness was continued with a skit by Pharm. D. students of 2010 and 2012 batches on Rational Drug Use.

At the concluding session of the programs, B. Rajan, President, Kerala State Pharmacy Council highlighted the objectives of pharmacy week and the greater role which should be played by the pharmacist. Sreelakshmi B. S., student, Pharm. D. (PB), 2011 batch, shared her experience during the Pharmacy Week and Pharm. D. students performed a skit on the concluding day.

January 1, 2014
School of Pharmacy, Kochi