From Mr A. J. M. Hoek
SIR,—I am sorry that the brief report in The Pharmaceutical Journal (October 30, p696) on the recent general assembly of the World Medical Association (WMA) had such a negative emphasis.
The report on the working relationship between physicians and pharmacists, adopted at the general assembly, was in fact very close in wording to a document prepared by a working group of the International Pharmaceutical Federation and World Medical Association in February, 1998.
The statement included the following wording under the heading of "The physician's responsibilities": "Monitoring and assessing response to medicinal therapy, progress toward therapeutic goals and, when necessary, revising the therapeutic plan (where appropriate in collaboration with pharmacists and other care givers)."
What one should remember is that the WMA members are, as the name suggests, drawn from many countries.
The stage to which physician/pharmacist joint involvement in assessing response to medicinal therapy has currently developed, quite understandably, varies substantially from country to country.
The statement adopted in Tel Aviv seems to recognise that collaboration in this area already exists in some countries and does not prevent its development in others.
Overall, the statement is positive for pharmacists in many countries on many aspects of the working relationship between physicians and pharmacists.
The next stage will be considered by FIP as to whether the document adopted in Tel Aviv, bearing in mind its origin as a paper prepared by a joint FIP/WMA working group, can be endorsed as a joint statement by both FIP and WMA.
A. J. M. Hoek
General Secretary, International Pharmaceutical Federation, The Hague, Netherlands