Samhita and Cipla joint study on pharmacists with an aim to Improve Community Healthcare

MUMBAI: Samhita and Cipla Foundation released a study titled “Future of Indian Pharmacies”. It was aimed at enabling better business outcomes for pharmacists and enhancing their relationships with the community to improve community healthcare.

The study found that pharmacists want to improve their medical skills and knowledge to serve their customers better, and 76% reported collaborating with healthcare players to improve outcomes in their localities. This study was conducted among 1,100 pharmacists across India. 

According to the Pharmacy Council of India, it is estimated that there are about 6,57,230 registered pharmacists in India.

The Key Findings of the Study Report are:

1. A substantial proportion of the pharmacists interviewed saw themselves as ‘supporters of people’s health needs (57%) and ‘part of the medical community (45%)
2. 61% of pharmacists stated that they wanted to prioritize improving their medical skills and knowledge to serve their customers better.
3. When asked about the awareness levels of their customers, many of the pharmacists said that their ‘customers are not very aware’ (38%) and ‘take guidance from me’ (30%)
4. The most common health challenge as reported by the pharmacists was non-communicable diseases (NCDs), mainly diabetes and hypertension. 
5. In India, as the disease burden (DALYs) of NCDs has risen from 30% in 1990 to 55% in 2016, with an expectation to rise further, the pharmacist’s role can go beyond providing guidance on acute illnesses to advocate for NCD prevention and management.
6. Only 9% said that they would move to another business in the future, making it clear that India’s pharmacists are invested in improving their business outcomes as it is their primary, long-term occupation.
7. In addition to providing medicines, 41% of the pharmacies also offer basic medical guidance to their customers. 
8. 80% pharmacists accessed information about healthcare and medicine through doctor’s prescriptions and pharmaceutical companies
9. 40% used ‘social media/internet’ to learn about healthcare. This depicts their initiative to learn but can also be harmful due to rampant misinformation on the internet. 

Through this report, the needs and potential of pharmacists can be understood. By supporting their capacity building (through training in advocacy, recording-keeping, customer relations, etc.), they can leverage their skills and position to improve overall community health outcomes.

Priya Naik, Founder and CEO of Samhita Social Ventures says, “Pharmacists are deeply connected to the communities they serve and are often trusted by their customers for medical advice, which uniquely positions them as champions and drivers of better community health. As demonstrated in the knowledge collaboration with Cipla, there is a substantial opportunity for private and public sectors to effect positive outcomes in healthcare by strengthening and supporting pharmacies in their quest to learn more, grow their business and gain the confidence and trust of their communities.”

Despite being in potentially pivotal roles, pharmacists face several daily operational challenges like unstable prices of medicines and FMCG products and inadequate access to supplies. A third of the pharmacists surveyed also report challenges with basic and effective record-keeping of their sales and inventory. 

As one of the first specific knowledge pieces on pharmacy needs, the insights of this study report quantitatively bring to light the need to support pharmacies to become stronger and more credited stakeholders in delivering affordable basic health care requirements. 

Nachiket Mor, Ph.D. and visiting scientist of the Banyan Academy for Leadership in Mental Health, advised on the pharmacy study and solution. He said, “India is experiencing a rapid disease transition and chronic diseases are becoming more prevalent in the lives of Indians. Many health systems around the world have realised that to address this very large and growing problem, healthcare will need to deploy multiple channels of engagement with people and that pharmacies are ideally placed to complement the efforts of other, more traditional, channels. Pharmacies have a large presence even in the remotest parts of India and involving them in treatment and prevention efforts in a structured way, offers the opportunity to create a large-scale impact and build a dense and ubiquitous multi-channel primary care network that is essential to universal health care.”