PHARMACIST ON THE MOVE; Indonesian Young Pharmacist Group
By: Dwi Prasetyaning Rahmawati,
Imagine the future view of how patients fully recognize pharmacists as their medication experts. They take their medication with serious alertness, never hesitate to consult their medication problem and health with us, instead of believing unreliable hoax threads. Start from the future expectation to introduce the existence of pharmacists in Indonesia, together with the aim to enhance communication and professional development among the young pharmacists, the Indonesian Young Pharmacist Group (IYPG) was initiated in 2012 following the Young Pharmacists’ Group of the International Pharmaceutical Federation (FIP-YPG).
Strengthening the Bond of Young Pharmacists through Youth Approach
As a platform for young pharmacists, IYPG has a tagline of “Simple, Fun, and Young”.
This tagline reflects the programs launched by IYPG for young pharmacists. The programs are designed for young people with a young approach. Every year, IYPG always holds a National Annual Meeting called “the Indonesian YPG Summit”, as a forum that not only discusses the evaluation and future strategies for organization but also other engaging activities. From webinars (that not only talk about pharmacy practice, but also mental health, digital content creation, financial literation, and many more ahead), social media campaigns, charities, and various clubs provided for members based on their interests. These clubs are officially launched within IYPG 3rd Virtual Summit on 15–17 January 2021, in line with the theme of the summit: Young Pharmacists on the Move.
We are hopeful that by strengthening the bond of young pharmacists, we can become more solid in advocating professional problems and be the agents of positivity for our community.
The Role of Young Pharmacists in Tackling COVID-19 Pandemic
Standing as one of the healthcare stakeholders, IYPG also participates in movements to execute and fight the COVID-19 pandemic. With the supervision from COVID-19 Handling Task Force from Indonesian Pharmacists Association (IAI), IYPG starts to create projects, under the team named “IYPG Lawan COVID”. The projects of this movement included open donation, virtual sharing sessions for healthcare and volunteer, charity, and many more.
According to the latest survey by September 2020 by the Ministry of Health Indonesia, 803 pharmacists are positively confirmed of COVID-19, and by today the number is still increasing.
Due to this fact, one of the programs that are going to be launched soon is by conduct open donations and charity. The fund gained from these projects is purposed for pharmacists and the community who are affected by this disease. Pharmacists, as the “IYPG Lawan COVID” team has conducted a survey for the front-liner fellow volunteers by the late of 2020, are apparently still need help in the procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). From around 54 respondents, 75% stated that the PPE is sufficient, but around 25% of them still need the support.
Finally, as the new chapter of 2021 has begun, we believe that this year will be the year of pharmacists, as part of healthcare professionals, to help the community to promote, prevent, cure, and recover from COVID-19 crisis with collaboration together with fellow young pharmacists and other organizations.
In the days ahead, the Indonesian Young Pharmacists Group decided to be a visionary organization, to embrace the future by doing the best in the present.
