In collaboration with Suvarnamitra in Petaling Jaya, IMU School of Pharmacy brings together dedicated experts and students to educate the general public about the safe use of medication. The programme consisting of a series of talks was aimed at creating awareness about safe use of medication relating to the safe administration of medicine, drug interactions and authenticity of health products.
| In Sanskrit, “Suvarnamitra” translates to Golden Friends. It is a group of Buddhist volunteers supported by Aloka Foundation and The Buddhist Missionary Society Malaysia. |
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| Talk on “Safe Use of Medicine” |
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| The series of talks were initiated in August 2017, with a talk on “Safe Use of Medicine” led by two lecturers from Pharmacy Practice Department of School of Pharmacy, Dr Wong Pei Se and Lee Mun Sun as well as two final year pharmacy students. The lecturers explained to attendees about generic medicine and reasons behind common instructions of medicine administration. The pharmacy students, Brian Cheong Weng Tzun and Tan Siow Jean also trained and provided the attendees with a checklist on “What You Should Know About Your Drugs”. |
| Talk on “Drug Interactions” |
| Dr Mayuren Candasamy, Senior Lecturer from the Department of Life Sciences, School of Pharmacy delivered a talk entitled “Drug Interactions” on 8 April 2018 with Year 3 pharmacy students. The talk introduced to attendees the basics behind possible drug-drug, drug-food and drug-supplement interactions that occur without anyone’s notice in his/her daily life. Two pharmacy students, Nicole Tay Wuen Rong and Naveenya Chetty Annan, who participated in the session showed the attendees the established online database which provides information about drug interaction. The key message of the session was the importance of working with healthcare professionals and pharmacists to address drug interactions. |
| Talk on “Medication Safety” |
| The third talk in May 2018 delivered by Dr Mai Chun Wai from the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry introduced to the attendees the vigorous drug discovery and legal product registration processes in place to ensure drug’s safety and efficacy. The event also trained the attendees on the steps taken to establish authenticity of health products, as well as the use and handling of expired products. Dr Mai, also the Chairperson of Young Pharmacist Chapter for Malaysian Pharmaceutical Society who advocates safe disposal of medicine, encouraged attendees to return unused medicine to any pharmacy facility under Ministry of Health. |
The School of Pharmacy is inspired to serve community, hopes to sustain efforts with partners in community to educate general public on the safe use of medication, while increasing the public’s awareness of the role of pharmacists in healthcare.
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