At present I know a good number of students complete their graduation in Pharmacy from different universities. Then comes the major challenge of their life- finding the right job. I worked in pharmaceutical industry of Bangladesh around 5 years and I know there are lots of opportunities and at the same time frustration also. According to me we Pharmacists are ambitious by nature and actually we should be because we have studied one of the top professional subjects of the world. Here in Australia students who score more than 95% in their class twelve will get chance to study pharmacy. For studying other professional subjects (such as engineering) they need to get more than 70% marks only. It indicates what sort of competency this profession deserves.
But scenario in Bangladesh is different I guess. Too much pharmacists are applying for a single job and according to Supply and Demand formula our professional competency is being neglected and underpaid. We are not keeping a silver line for our future graduates. Now time has come to rethink the whole thing and may be set a new goal!!!!
I lived in Australia for more than two years. My experience with the Pharmacists are quite good. I agree that in Australia, Pharmacists have constructed virtually a very closed and protected 'Group', which is by nature regoriously competitive and demands highest form of both individual and organizational professionalism.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the scenario here in Bangladesh is very different. We have 160 million population (Australia has 35 million with at least 10 times areable land!) and a majority of them are dependent on services from Govt institutions (like THCs or Hospitals). Unfortunately it is here, in these institutions, where you have to search real hard to meet even one Professional Pharmacist.
In a country where almost 70% of the drugs are being used as self-prescribed, where the seller/chemist in the drug store is being frequently called and consulted as "Daktar shab", where a practicing physician consult even 100 patients within 5 hours in his/her chamber, and where you can buy any drug you want just by throwing money ... it is difficult to even concieve a decent picture for the Pharmacists around.
However, I do not agree that it is because of the sheer number of the Pharmacists that are being produced now (as some of our teachers and pharmacist BORO VAIs used to say), it is rather that these pharmacists or the new-borns need to feed in same small areas (mainly in the Pharmaceuticals which are mostly Dhaka based). Thus, perhaps strategy of BLUE OCEAN needs to be applied to our Pharmacists job distribution even before that to our marketing of drugs.
As you know, even though we have been trained as a Professional Pharmacist from the best institution in Bangladesh, I am not convinced on the overall quality of our training. We read a lot, wrote even more (remember the CHOTHAS and EXAMS?), but the process has never compelled us to think for ourselves regarding drugs or regarding the service that should be rendered by a Pharmacist to the community. None of our courses talk about the different communities that a Pharmacist in Bangladesh is going to serve in his professional life. Perhaps, underlying understanding was always to serve others! [We read the book American Pharmacy (a well written one I must admit but one that is written in 1970s!!), but none about Bangladesh Pharmacy].
Moreover, Just by passing four years B.Pharm Course, we have been awarded the "A Grade Pharmacist Certification". I remember many of this "A Graders" who could not recognize a simple Keto Group when they were about to recieve their certificates!
But, this is not all. While, I fully agree that individual should look forward and think big (as sky is the limit), the shoulder/platform upon which they stand to look beyond the horizon, should be deeply engraved in the culture and need of people of Bangladesh. Why? you may ask. There are hundreds of reasons, but let me remind you the most basic one. In Australia, or in any developed country, where Pharmacists are very well paid, if you ask them how much they had to spend for getting their degree, even after scoring 95% in their certificate exams, you will be amazed to know the number (I think it is around 150 Australian Ks equivalent to more than 1 crore in BDT). On the other hand, at least in my case, government actually paid me for studying Pharmacy. What a contrast. And where from this money came? To whom I should repay if I have the ability and opportunity? On how much these people are surviving on daily basis?
ReplyDeleteBrush me off by saying lofty, but what I am saying needs to be deeply thought over. Remember the proud saying from our teachers, that once upon a time, DU Pharmacy was the Visa Centre of USA! One who entered got it. We were joyous in listening to those days of glory. How pathetic we were! No one asked the simple question that "did USA outsource their Pharmacy training to Bangladesh"? There is no denying that if someone can he or she should take high positions and well paid job in the world market. But that should be just a by product of a good education not the goal of an enducational institution.
Please do not think that I am against a better opportunity search. I am not. You among the all should know it better. I only disagree with what we have learned from our teachers (I mean was there anyone who told us anything which was not in the book? in that sense it is a question who should we consider as our teacher? Was it Rang & Dale or Professor ...?). I disagree with the concept that only self service alone will bring benifits to the people by some magic trickling down process. I believe, no matter where we are, to help even a little one needs to be deeply involved in the matter.
But keep up your good work. You have a natural gift of distilling the beauty from the mess. Remember your games in Queen's Gambit Declined!. I am sure this will be well taken by all.
Regards