A welcome from our Head of Department, Mr Michael Naidoo

Pharmacists are custodians of medicines. Pharmacy is a single degree that opens many career pathways to you. The acts that you must perform as a pharmacist are:

1. Dispensing medicines according to a prescription
2. Compounding medicines according to formulae
3. Safekeeping of medicines
4. Providing information to prescribers and patients on the safe and effective use of medicines

The life skills that you will learn include:

1. Legal ethical duties like complying with the Pharmacy Act and the rules and ethical responsibilities published by the South African Pharmacy Council (SAPC) that regulates the profession in the country.
2. Dispensing and patient care and record keeping.
3. Specific skills to compound medicines safely and to ensure that these molecules are delivered to where they will work in a patient.
4. How various drug molecules act in patients, and how they bring about benefit in illness.
5. Procuring, storing, and disposing of medicines and hazardous substances safely with minimal impact to the environment.
6. Communication, so that you are able to provide information about safe, rational and effective use of medicines.
7. Research, so that you are able to keep up with new trends and to contribute to the development of the profession

The degree equips you to work in all of the careers related to pharmacy, i.e., community pharmacy, hospital pharmacy, industrial pharmacy, primary health care, and research and development of new molecules and new ways of being effective as a profession. It is a rewarding people-centred profession, and will afford you a healthy lifelong learning experience, as a member of a team of health care workers within the community you serve.

The degree is challenging, and requires commitment, but the rewards are worth the hard work and discipline.