[Column] Pharmacist's role during COVID-19 outbreak

President Yoo Chang-shik of New Wave Pharmacist Association

“Do you have hand sanitizer?” “Do you have masks?” These were the most frequently asked questions at my pharmacy starting from Lunar New Year holiday season when the first case of COVID-19 in Korea was confirmed.

 

It is disheartening to see people looking for hand sanitizer in every pharmacy as if not owning one would kill them.

 

Obviously, a public place required have one is unavoidable.

 

But thinking that hand sanitizer would give immunity to virus is a problem.

 

I tried to tell people to carry personal liquid soap and wash their hands at public restrooms as Korea has clean and convenient facilities.

 

But it frustrates me to see people trusting information from the Internet.

 

Nevertheless, I am glad the government and the people are reacting much better after experiencing a number of major respiratory virus outbreaks.

 

During the 2009 flu pandemic, the health authority took almost two weeks to disseminate responsive guideline.

 

The country was confused and restless for a long while, because disease preventive guideline was not presented promptly.

 

I owned a small pharmacy back then as well.

 

I remember informing customers, based on the fact the novel flu’s pathogen is an influenza virus, soap and alcohol could kill the virus and simple single-use mask would also be effective to prevent droplet infection even if it is not difficult to acquire N95 mask.

 

And obviously, my expertise as a pharmacist has helped me to make a judgment.

 

Lately, health issues affecting the society have been occurring more frequently.

 

Besides respiratory virus outbreaks, events with harmful and toxic substances have also been reported.

 

Humidifier disinfectant incident was a case that toxic substance stirred the public.

 

Presumably, the consumers were shocked even more as disinfectant, supposedly protecting human body, was actually damaging the people.

 

Pharmacist should not only talk about drugs.

 

All pharmacists study toxicology at university.

 

As Paracelsus said, “All things are poison,” all chemical substance found in daily life could be toxic or bad for human body.

 

So it is pharmacist’s social responsibility to warn and advise about toxic substance or health risk the public is unaware of.

 

We do need to reflect back on ourselves to see if the pharmacist organization has been playing a key role when a social health issue breaks out.

 

We also need to ask ourselves if we are playing the role of a watchdog forewarning an upcoming risk.

 

The pharmacist organization could not raise a voice to warn about the humidifier disinfectant.

 

Regardless of being an expert of substance acting on human body, the organization could not even explain the problem or present a counteraction plan when the problem arose.

 

If the pharmacists have been constantly warning about various toxic substances, the public would have listened to the pharmacists opposing against the government opening the pharmaceutical market to convenient store.

 

This was a quite regretful incident.

 

It is unfortunate that today’s pharmacy visitors are looking for hand sanitizer and not listening to my advice.

 

But before I blame such state, we need to ponder over what should do as an expert rebuilding trust and authority.

 

Korean Pharmaceutical Association (KPA), representing Korean pharmacists, should always explore health risks and constantly speak up on various safety issues.

 

And also they should be able to promptly provide trustworthy information whenever public health incidents surface.

 

Credibility of a person continuing to speak up for good cause would naturally solidify.

 

I can assure such effort would change the attitude of pharmacy-visiting consumers.