IMU School of Pharmacy Celebrates World Pharmacists Day 2016

World Pharmacists Day is celebrated on 25 September every year to encourage pharmacists all over the world to organise activities to promote and advocate for the role of pharmacist in healthcare. This year’s theme, “Pharmacists: Caring for You’ reflects the importance of pharmacists in healthcare and highlights the pharmacist-client relationship. The IMU Pharmacy Day Committee comprising of students from the BPharm programme organised a three-day event from 19 – 21 September 2016 for the IMU community, including a blood donation drive, health screening and a ‘Know your Medicines’ exhibition. In addition, a logo designing and poster drawing competition was held prior to this 3-day event. 19 of September 2016 – Approximately 250 pharmacy and pharmaceutical chemistry students and staff gathered in the auditorium of the University campus in Bukit Jalil to attend the opening ceremony where there were a series of activities including speeches, talks and performances. The opening ceremony was officiated by the President of the Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society (MPS), Tuan Haji Amrahi Buang, and a representative from the Ministry of Health (MOH), Dziehan Mustapa and Heygaajivan a/l Kernas. The event kick started with a speech from A/Prof Mohd Zulkefeli bin Mat Jusoh, Dean of the IMU School of Pharmacy who highlighted the vital role of pharmacists in improving outcomes of drug treatment and quality of life, particularly in chronic conditions. In a subsequent speech, Tuan Haji Amrahi Buang, the president of MPS emphasised on the impact and added value that pharmacists bring to healthcare. This was followed by an interactive talk by Mogan Ram, an IMU alumnus and a Pharmacy Enforcement Officer, who spoke about unregistered products and its usage risk. In the talk, he stressed on the importance of making sure that the products we consume are registered in Malaysia and warns about the dangers of consuming unregistered products that may be adulterated. The opening ceremony then proceeded smoothly with a prize giving ceremony for winners of the logo designing and poster drawing competition. The event concluded with two music and dance performances by a group of Year Three pharmacy and pharmaceutical chemistry students. The blood donation drive, MAPCU organ donation registration booth, general health screening tests and “Know your medicine” exhibition also started on the same day and continued for another two days. With the help of the IMU Buddhist Society and nurses from Hospital Tuanku Ja’afar Seremban, we managed to obtain a total of 147 successful blood donors. Students involved in the ‘Know your medicine’ exhibition underwent a full day training by the MOH representatives prior to the event and managed to share valuable information on topics such as antimicrobial resistance, correct use of medications and much more with visitors of the event. These visitors were also given the opportunity to undergo free-of-charge Body Mass Index (BMI), glucose and blood pressure tests. In addition, two provisionally registered pharmacists (PRP) from AM PM Pharmacy and another two MOH pharmacists from Klinik Kesihatan Sungai Besi assisted the health screening and exhibition booths respectively on the first day of event. The organising committee led by Emily Chai from BP1/14 and their advisors would like to express their gratitude to the sponsors, CCM Pharmaceuticals Sdn Bhd and AM PM Pharmacy. CCM Pharmaceuticals sponsored prizes for the winners of the logo design and poster drawing competition, while AM PM Pharmacy generously provided materials for blood glucose testing used and guidance in the health screening booth. The committee would also like to thank IMU Cares for their generosity in providing a Body Mass Index (BMI) counter, and blood pressure meters for use throughout the event.