I am originally from Africa and plan to go back and open up a pharmacy. Anyone sharing the same dream? And if so what do you think are going to be the challenges?
Anyone from Africa?
- Thread starter Mapi
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I am from Gabon. The challenges are different depending on the market you target. There is one common thread to opening a pharmacy anywhere in the world: money. In Gabon one particular challenge is the numer of pharmacists there are way to many of them and the profession is not well regulated. My family is in the business, still a good area but the profits are not as good as they used to be when there was fewer competition.
I might still open my own pharmacy one day in Gabon.
I might still open my own pharmacy one day in Gabon.
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I am still in school for a year and a half. It's evident that we won't get enough training for the majors disease states that are prevalent in Africa in a Zillion years ( just because any school will primarly focus on dz present in their population) But we do some exposure to anti-malarials ( Gabon being a french speaking country, the names of medications are differents)
Some dz like diabetes, heart disease, drug abuse and many other ones are present and rising in Africa.
Another interesting issue with being trained here et serving african population is the grip that traditional medecine have on our population in Africa. You can't just show up with your big doctorate and pretend that those things don't exist or don't work. One will have to learn to compromise for the good of its patients.
Thats true. I am from Ethiopia by the way and I left right after highschool so I am not that familiar how pharmacy works back home as I was intending on a different course of study then. I read an article that Kenyan Pharmacists prescribe. Is this true in your family's practice as well? And if so is it pretty accessible to get patient's lab tests such as crcl etc. Also you said that there are a lot of pharmacists in Gabon. Are they mostly PharmDs? If not, dont you think that your education of say maybe extra 4 years gives you an edge on the competition. In Addis, it is not really the pharmacists that bring in the medicine and make big bucks. It is an investor that buys a pharmacist's license for pharmacy related operations, brings in drugs and just sells ... it is very annoying.
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No, I haven't heard or seen pharmacists prescrib in Gabon.
Most if not all of them are pharmDs as they are trained in other African countries or France and all french speaking places emulate the french educational system.It's a doctorate program. Remember that the pharmD was created to catch up with the EU system.
I don't think that my education ( which is about the same lengt now in both systems) gives me any edge. Actually, pharmacist trained in Africa have an edge over me as their mind is more open than mine on some local issues. But I do have a broader view on some issues, some technologies but again the same question comes back: is Africa ready for it, for me? Sometimes, too much knowledge can be a bad thing. I try really hard not to be a show off back home, I keep a low profile. When I do go back on day I am planning on amking a difference not just be an other pharmacist around. I am working on ideas to get there..
We have the same issue in Gabon, foreign entities bying young graduate diploma...sad situation. We have just created our first regulatory agency for pharmacist. hopefully, they will address this issue.
