The International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP) has designated 25 September as the annual World Pharmacists Day. The theme for this year’s World Pharmacists Day is: From research to healthcare: Your pharmacist is at your service.

The purpose of celebrating this day is to advocate and promote pharmacists’ roles in the delivery of safe care for patients and the wider communities that they serve.

“This theme was chosen to reflect the numerous contributions the pharmacy profession makes to healthcare. From the research and development of medicines, to educating future pharmacists and pharmaceutical scientists, and providing direct care, we do all this in the service of our patients and communities,” said FIP President Dr Carmen Peña.

She added, “We want to emphasise that pharmacists are the backbone of healthcare in many different settings. But providing care does not begin in community or hospital pharmacies. Caring for patients starts with recognising the health issues of populations and developing medicines, policies and education to tackle them.

“We pharmacists are often there at the very beginning of the process, when the first molecule that effectively treats a disease is identified.”

According to FIP’s President, the role of pharmacists has evolved from a medicine provider to a healthcare provider.

The annual World Pharmacists Day was designated for the first time by the FIP Council in 2010 at the FIP Congress in Istanbul,Turkey.

The World Pharmacist Day is a chance for FV Hospital to express our deep gratitude to our pharmacists for their valuable contributions to the process of patient care.