SAAHIP KZN Coastal Branch Newsletter

1999/2000 SAAHIP KZN Coastal branch committee members
The New PSSA Constitution
Calendar of Events
Conference Report Back
Medical News Update
Reminders for Conference 2000
SAAHIP is there to help…
Contact Details
SAAHIP Practice Standards
Humour in Pharmacy

I am currently employed at the Natal Bioproducts Institute where I am largely involved in the provision of drug information. My special interests therefore lie in the retrieval and dissemination of information and the technology that supports these functions. I believe pharmacists have a vital role to play in providing accurate, unbiased information to assist practitioners in making evidence-based decisions for their patients. I have been involved in the SAAHIP committee for almost 5 years in various roles including secretary, continuing education and vice chairman. I have found the experience to be invaluable. SAAHIP provides you with many opportunities to meet your colleagues and to share practice ideas. I believe this has been instrumental in improving the provision of the pharmaceutical services where our members work. As the chairman, I represent our branch on the National Executive committee. At present we hold the portfolio of Marketing and Membership. The branch committee provides a voice for the members. However, if we don’t hear from you we cannot reflect your needs accurately. I would like to encourage all of you to contact any of the members with any issues, ideas or suggestions that you may have.

My place of work is Isipingo (Private) Hospital. I am currently involved in membership and I would encourage more pharmacists to join SAAHIP. It is indeed a wonderful experience to be kept up to date and grow in our profession as pharmacists. Being a part of SAAHIP also encourages other pharmacists to meet and converse on a Branch and National Level, and attending the exciting annual SAAHIP Conference is definitely a highlight.

I am secretary for the second year running now. Most of you may know me by now - I am the REPLY BY person for all your notices. I work for Natal Bioproducts Institute, which is a non-profit pharmaceutical company as an Information Pharmacist. We run a drug information centre relating to our products and the conditions where in they are used and also provide the latest, up-to-date information dealing with the basic running of the institution. Different from the normal hospital setting, but rewarding nonetheless!

Currently I am a lecturer in the Pharmacy Practice division in The School of Pharmacy and Pharmacology at the University of Durban Westville. My experience in community and hospital pharmacy as enabled me to fulfill my role in academia, which I find both challenging and rewarding. As an academic, I need to be kept up to date with issues concerning pharmacy and pharmaceutical education in our country. Belonging to a professional organisation like SAAHIP helps me to accomplish this. I am responsible for co-ordinating the SAAHIP KZN newsletter, and this is the first for the millennium. This informative newsletter is aimed at educating the members and potential members of happenings in SAAHIP and in pharmacy in general. This current issue introduces the KZN committee and reminds you of the continuing education meetings as well as other interesting bits in pharmacy.

My current role within SAAHIP is to co-ordinate the electronic information services for our members – a web site and some electronic mailing lists. In fact the main reason that I’ve become involved in these activities is through my work with the Health Systems Trust (HST) where I’ve been working for nearly 4 years to improve the electronic communication and information networks especially in the public health sector. HST is a non-government organisation supporting health systems research and development. We use the Internet as a tool to try and make public health information easily accessible, as well as providing interactive discussion forums where policy or implementation issues can be debated. Working with the Internet all the time has encouraged me to try and share with others the potential usefulness of this medium, as well as the problems, thereby hoping to make their experience of searching for information more effective.

Position: Principal Pharmacist at the Provincial Medical Supply Centre, in charge of the Central Tablet Repacking Unit and Manufacturing Laboratory which supply all KZNPA hospitals and clinics. "Word of Mouth" is the most effective advertisement, so I would encourage all our members to become active in recruiting people to join SAAHIP by speaking to non members in your work environment, both pharmacists and interns, and also speaking to members who are not active, encouraging them to attend meetings (even offering them transport if needed!!)

In my job basically as well as managing the Marketing Dept and marketing activities of Natal Bioproducts Institute, I do a quite a bit of CE-type lecturing to doctors, pharmacists and pharmacy students and other health care professionals and students. When I joined NBI there was no focus on pharmacists. I quickly realised that a pharmacist's knowledge on blood products was minimal, especially since these products had always been part of Blood Transfusion and only recently became pharmaceuticals and under the control of the pharmacist. I thus set out to ensure that pharmacists became knowledgeable on blood products. Basically I bring a pharmacist's knowledge of the industry into the marketing and customer service activities of NBI.

Continuing Education meetings: Sonny Peo
General Meetings: Anban Pillay
DUPSA (student body): Tammy Pillay
South African Pharmacy Council: Mariam Cassimjee
SAAHIP National Treasurer: Lorraine Daglish
SAAHIP Past President: Andy Gray

The 1999-2000 year has naturally been dominated by the ongoing negotiations conducted by the president over the national Pharmaceutical Society (PSSA) constitution. In short:

Right now, it is crucial that all SAAHIP members should return the forms on which they can indicate their choice of sector, so that the size of the sectors can be determined. It is also important that SAAHIP members start to engage with the PSSA branches in which they will soon enjoy full rights. This will allow the PSSA branch constitutions to be amended to reflect the new "umbrella" structure.

SAAHIP-KZN is actively involved in providing CPD for pharmacists. Our general meetings, which are sponsored by pharmaceutical companies, are very popular. The first was at Westville Hotel, with guest speaker Dr Desai who spoke on: The HOPE Study.

For those of you who are not members yet, shouldn’t you be joining now to attend our next general meeting! Don’t miss out!!

In addition, CPD meetings are held regularly at Entabeni Hospital Boardroom at 6pm.

Our first meeting was an opportunity for our conference presenters to share their work with their colleagues.

Our 2^nd CPD meeting was on the 13 April 2000, by Prof Dushen Chetty who presented an informative lecture on "Non-invasive delivery of peptide and protein Drugs". All SAAHIP and PSSA members are welcome to attend to continue your professional development as a pharmacist. Further CPD talks will take place on:

As you may be aware, SAAHIP's national AGM and conference recently took place in Rustenburg. It was a most interesting 3 days of discussion of practice issues, presentation of research, and planning for the year ahead.

Almost all the proceedings of the conference have been made available through the SAAHIP web site at www.saahip.org.za - we encourage you to have a look.

Congratulations to the organisers and the executive for an excellent conference, and especially for the introduction of the new format panel discussions, which added a lot of interest and participation to the conference!

The South African Law Commission's report on euthanasia, which recommends legislation to give doctors the authority to switch off life support for terminally ill patients, was tabled in parliament on 2/3/00. The report caused controversy when it was first issued and presented to Justice Minister Penuell Maduna last year. Minister of Health Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is considering it. The report includes a draft bill, which gives doctors the authority to practice "passive" euthanasia by ceasing medical treatment of patients whose vital functions are being maintained artificially. In terms of the draft, a mentally competent patient may refuse life- sustaining treatment even if that would result in death. Doctors may also cease treatment of terminally ill patients, who are not mentally competent, if it is in accordance with the wishes of the patient's family. One of the most controversial clauses is one giving a doctor the power to relieve a patient's suffering by prescribing higher dosages of painkillers, even if this would have the "secondary effect" of shortening the patient's life. (The Star) Source: Health News Daily 3/3/00

The Department of Health has announced that the tobacco industry has two years to phase out advertisements and sponsorship promoting smoking. Making a presentation before the health portfolio committee on the Tobacco Products Control Amendment Act of 1999, Blanche Pitt, the department's director for health promotion, said regulations for the tobacco industry were currently in draft form, with Friday being the cut-off date for public comments. Once these comments had been reviewed, the regulations will be gazetted. The regulations stipulate that contracts for the organisation, sponsorship or promotion of any organised activity by tobacco manufacturers, importers, distributors or retailers would not exceed two years from April 14 1999 - the day then-president Nelson Mandela signed the amended act. Publications printed outside South Africa containing tobacco advertisements would obtain exemption only if their principal purpose was not the promotion of the use of tobacco products. Tar and nicotine yields per cigarette would be reduced to 15mg and 1,5mg respectively, as from December 31 this year. Designated smoking areas or rooms should have a separate ventilation system that extracts air to the outside. In the case of restaurants with more than 35 seats, not more than 25 percent of the floor area could be a designated smoking zone. Pitt said owners would be responsible for ensuring that the act was enforced, adding that the department would set up a toll-free number that the public could use for complaints against breaches. Pitt reaffirmed the government's intention to prohibit tobacco advertising completely.

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A new hospital attached to the University of Cape Town and set to open mid-year is being hailed as a lifeline for the ailing Groote Schuur Hospital, which has lost beds, staff and standards to budget cuts. Professor John Terblanche has been named medical director of the new UCT medical centre, a 125-bed hospital attached to Groote Schuur that is the result of an agreement between UCT and one of Germany's leading private hospital groups, Rhon-Klinikum. (Cape

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INKATHA Freedom Party health spokeswoman Dr Ruth Rabinowitz has told the parliamentary portfolio committee on health that there should be an investigation into the fiasco surrounding last year's premature promulgation of new medicine control legislation. The promulgation, by former president Nelson Mandela, was overturned by the High Court, a decision confirmed last week by the Constitutional Court. Rabinowitz told the committee that it was "absolutely shameful" that the Constitutional Court had described Mandela's decision as irrational. She did not believe it was necessary to name the person responsible for the blunder, but there should be an investigation "even if just for the purpose of clearing the president's name". The South African Medicines and Medical Devices Regulatory Authority (Sammdra) Act was mistakenly brought into force before the schedules which should have gone with it were ready, opening the way for the uncontrolled sale of potentially dangerous drugs. When the error was realised, Mandela and other applicants, including then-health minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma and the Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association of South Africa, petitioned the court to have the promulgation set aside.

The constitutional court ruled that the repeal of a proclamation by former president Nelson Mandela, in which the new medicines act (SAMMDRA) came into effect before important regulations act were in place, could be done by a court in accordance with the Constitution. The court helped the government out of a predicament this time. Hopefully a few lessons were learnt during the process. (Beeld Comment 28/2) Source: Media Scan 2/3/2000

The Amalgamated Hospitals Group (Amahosp), the Durban-based holding company for four Durban private hospitals, has approached the provincial department of health with a proposal to allow under-resourced state hospitals to use private hospital facilities at almost cost, according to Jack Danchin, chairman of the group. The other side of the deal was that public hospitals would supply medicines, dressings and doctors. Dave McGlew, communications director for the department of health, said that although the department favoured the partnership in principle, several logistical problems such as scheduling and legal implications had to be considered. Danchin said if the deal were given the go-ahead, it would ensure greater utilisation of spare capacity in the group's Westville, The Crompton, Chatsmed Garden and Mount Edgecombe hospitals. This would give Amahosp a better chance of continuing to operate its hospitals should proposed provincial legislation be passed requiring all private medical practitioners and facilities to apply for a five-year certificate of need. The licence would only be granted if the applicant could prove, its services and facilities were required in the area being served.

There are numerous awards offered at Conference and the prizes are definitely nothing to sneeze at. For further information, please contact your branch committee for more details or visit SAAHIP’s website where new information should be published shortly.

This prestigious award is open to all SAAHIP members. To qualify for this award, a case study needs to be submitted in line with the minimum requirements.

Keep an eye out for pharmacist that you can nominate that is involved in a special project around the workplace or generally shows excellence in the practice of pharmacy. You can even nominate yourself!

The KZN Coastal Branch was approached recently by one of its members to assist in resolving an unfair labour practice. The pharmacist concerned had been successful in her application for a job at a provincial hospital and had requested a transfer from the hospital where she was presently working. She was refused the transfer initially due to staff shortages, followed by approval of the transfer which was then subsequently removed. Although SAAHIP is not a union, it does hold certain influence and we do have access through our membership to advice from the Public Servants' Association (PSA). Following letters by the branch chairman to the Medical Superintendent of the hospital concerned as well as the Head of Pharmaceutical Services for Kwa-Zulu Natal, the member's transfer was approved and she was able to take up her new position.

We would like to encourage members to seek assistance for any workplace problems, which they may experience. While all our interventions may not be as successful as the above situation we would make every effort to assist where we are able.

SAAHIP has published a "Practice Standard for the Provision of Drug Information Services" (drafted by Carolyn Rochat, with input from Leesette Turner, Health and Medicines Information Services; Riana Smook, MedsInfo and Genclin Pharmacy Management; Lee Baker, Pharmnet Amayeza Information Centre; Tanya Maurer, Medicines Information Centre; Barbara Raftesath, SAAHIP Executive committee). The final document, as approved by the SAAHIP Executive, has been posted on our web site. It can be found under the POLICY section, and can be downloaded as a Word document (279KB) or as an Adobe PDF (60KB).

These guidelines are intended to provide a framework for the hospital and institutional pharmacist to provide a drug information service in their place of work, and to develop a systematic approach in answering enquiries. It is intended to provide a minimum standard of service provision which aims to a) enhance the image and credibility of the profession, and b) ensure that information of the highest standard is provided to healthcare professionals to the ultimate benefit of the patient. Guidance is also given on where the service can be extended. This practice standard serves to formalise some of the activities already undertaken by hospital pharmacists in their daily work. Although the provision of a drug information centre would be the ideal to strive for this is not always practical within the arena of limited resources.

Please note that these are our work details so please ask for us by name and not for SAAHIP.