I dare you to one day strike a conversation with a young pharmacist. Most will talk about their internship experience where the job and pay mattered.
It is tough to maneuver life after an internship. I believe it should be categorized as one of the 1000 ways to die. Maybe a hardship allowance could come in handy, but man, it is tough. This is made worse if you had no savings or investments in place. It’s a one-time payment, one of a kind, where you are expected to know and plan better.
Covid19 is in our midst. It hit Kenya in March, where both good and bad tidings hit us. For some, it was an added allowance and income tax relief. For others, they survived on loans. Let’s not forget the political battles that took precedence over the pandemic struggles.
How do they pay for these loans? Due to the vast spread of the virus, exams were postponed almost indefinitely. We had a bulk of post-internship pharmacists waiting to sit for their stage 2 exams, and Let’s not pretend that these exams measure the output of the work and experience gathered in our internship. A real measure of that could be a thorough assessment in our stations that seldom happens. Stage 2 exams are just a waste of resources, though it gives one access to the next step: registration. To have a certified certificate of registration and practice license.
So yeah, it was an excruciating year for us as no hospitals could employ us without a certificate of registration. Locums were worse as they only looked for pharm techs and don’t get me started on the pay. While passion is supposed to surpass income, loans have to be paid, and provision of basic needs is mandatory, are we not doing a disservice to our profession when we demand less pay or settle for less? Yeah, I know what you are thinking. That I am spoilt, but you can’t possibly study for five years, get an internship pay of around 2M, and comfortably move backward because there is beauty in the struggle. No way hosay.
It’s either you restructure this whole thing that allows a pharmacist’s transition from one stage to the next. As essential workers whose role is in developing and modifying new treatment regimens, provision of rational drug use, and contributing to better health care outcomes, we need to be in the system to cater to the population’s health care needs. A healthy nation is a wealthy nation. A country that doesn’t look out for its professionals is set for doom. Just exactly what are we doing? And for the love of God, don’t call this entitlement.
“Set up a business. Self-employment is the way.” With what capital, Sharon? Like, have you seen the permits needed? With what experience, Andrew? I will learn in the job, huh?
By Dr. Omalizumab
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