On Tuesday, June 6th, the College of Pharmacy at Gulf Medical University hosted career counseling session: “Training and career opportunities at Al-Thiqa Pharmacies”. The session featured pharmacy professionals from Al-Thiqa Pharmacy, who shared valuable insights with students and alumni from the College of Pharmacy.
The session was conducted by: Dr. Zakieh Abuelkhair, Pharmacy Operations Manager at Al-Thiqa Pharmacy; Dr. Asraa Fathy, Training and Education Lead and Pharmacist In-Charge at Al-Thiqa Pharmacy; and Dr. Noor Wael Sadiq, GMU alumni and practicing Pharmacist at Al-Thiqa Pharmacy.
The speakers provided an in-depth explanation of the evolving landscape of community pharmacy practice in the UAE, and used Al-Thiqa Pharmacy as an example. They highlighted the wide range of services that pharmacists are offering in a community setting with focus on the newly developed vaccination services including the essential vaccines such as COVID-19 and influenza vaccines, as well as PCR testing. Students and alumni gained insights into the sterile compounding service at Al-Thiqa Pharmacies in coordination with the home care companies ensuring safe and cost effective administration.
During the session, College of Pharmacy students and alumni discovered the opportunities for training and observership programs offered in Al-Thiqa pharmacy.
The session was followed by an engaging discussion about the evolving roles of community pharmacies and the potential to unify and extend these practices across all pharmacies, ensuring the highest quality of care for patients throughout the UAE.
Dean Sherief Khalifa commented: “The community pharmacy model at Al-Thiqa Pharmacy is changing the face of the pharmacy profession and will eventually change the society’s perception to pharmacy and the pharmacist. Having similar community pharmacies across all emirates will make better use of the pharmacists workforce in the country for the benefit of the citizens and residents of the UAE”.
