Mumbai, India

Manjiri Gharat, Pharmacist

Area of work: Academic involved in Community Health work and Community Pharmacy training and projects

Describe your daily work routine  

As a teacher, I conduct classroom lectures for Pharmacology, Health education/community Pharmacy, laboratory practical for Pharmacology, Hospital/clinical Pharmacy, and Community Pharmacy Training to budding pharmacists at the In-house Model Pharmacy. In addition, I am involved closely with the development of other activities such as:
1.Community based surveys
2.Community outreach programs
3.“Know your Medicine” camps
4.Health exhibitions
5.The TB projects 
                   
What are the greatest difficulties you encounter in your work environment?

Time constraints, there is so much of work to do, but limitations on the time management front.
The difficulty is that the pharmacists here, by and large, are very busy and commercially oriented. A lot of effort is needed to continuously keep the pharmacists motivated. Strong follow up of work is needed in any project, and therefore it always demands more time.Dealing with Medical professionals has to be skillful. I, being academician usually get good response from Doctors for any work. But I still have to be very careful in dealing with them. I am involved in making lot of patient education projects and hence always need to consult doctors.

What is the greatest motivation in your profession?

I have a strong urge to improve community awareness and the pharmacists’ image in India and model it on the basis of developed pharmacy practice as in countries like the USA, Australia etc.  All of the project work done is voluntarily and no personal earning is expected from this. Regular salary is through my job as academician. However, over the last two years, some funds have started coming through for the project expenses and so expenses are being reimbursed by local bodies like the Indian Pharmaceutical Association or through the project funding, which was not the case initially. Now slowly, payment is regular, no problem.  But monetary gain has never been an issue or motivation.

To see the changing mindset, of at least, a few pharmacists as an impact of the training, is the greatest motivation, as well as the encouragement of seniors.

If you could have one wish granted, what would it be?

My wish is to see the improvement in the pharmacy practice in the country. It will be great to see our “traders” changing towards “true pharmacists” and contributing towards the health care.

Oral Rehydration Solution Use Training
Here the ladies who have gathered are the wives of the labourers and sweepers in our college (except one in red, she is from some other college lab staff) whom I had called.  The two men are sweepers.  I am explaining the medicines to them and specifically about use of ORS packets available in the market (use of boiled and cooled water etc) and then how they can make it at home.  All ladies have small children and this education is necessary. 

(Manjiri is wearing yellow in the centre).