Renewed confidence in Pharmacy Council

THE EDITOR, Sir: LET ME be the first to congratulate the Pharmacy Council of Jamaica (PCJ), under the leadership of Dr Norman Dunn, on its handling of the recent Pharmacy Interns Assessment and the timely marking of the papers to produce results. It is rumoured that more than 95 per cent of interns sitting the exam passed this time around.

This success must be attributed to the fact that an outline was distributed for the exam and the interns didn’t have to wait an eternity before sitting the exam (as was the case for the last three years). Kudos are in order for the council, especially the Education Committee. The team worked hard to make sure that the interns could have been fairly assessed and also produced results in little over a month. This is truly a step in the right direction.

After the leadership of the previous chairman, aided by the registrar, few pharmacists had anything good to say about the PCJ. Earlier this year, print media was flooded with issues faced in the licensing of trained pharmacists. There was a tossoff about trainees’ competence vs PCJ’s vindictiveness and questionable practices.

Confidence in the council had hit rock bottom, with interns feeling it the most with regard to getting their licence after completing four years at the University of Technology, Jamaica, and a one-year internship at two hospitals of choice.

I just want to encourage the present council to keep on with the good work.

PAUL BROWN