The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 273 No 7321 p584
16 October 2004

Society summary

Pharmaid BNF collection

An appeal was made during the October Council meeting for pharmacists to save outdated copies of the British National Formulary for the Commonwealth Pharmaceutical Association’s annual Pharmaid collection for distribution to health care workers in developing countries (PJ, 2 October, p457). The appeal was made by the Vice-President, who said that in 1998 he visited a hospital in India, where he saw one doctor carefully guarding the BNF in his pocket. When he removed it it turned out to be a 1973 edition. The Vice-President said: “Here we throw BNFs in the dustbin, yet it could be a useful tool in developing countries to deliver better care and it need not cost us much. This is an appeal to all pharmacists and those who can help with BNF collections. Please make an effort and let us try and get as many used BNFs abroad as possible.”