| · Mental health
· Emergency supplies (2)
· CPD
· Hospital pharmacy
· Hospital sterilisation
· Reciprocity
Letters to the Editor
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Reciprocity
Comments insulting
From Mrs A. L. Pitman
I wonder if Monty
Goldin (PJ, 16 July, p82) is aware of the extent to
which he has insulted all South African pharmacists with his derisory,
generalised comments concerning the standard of our degrees and training.
Perhaps he and his “informants” could be bold enough to define
more accurately the time-scale of this academic decline and pinpoint an
exact year from which we should consider our qualifications to be “inferior”.
I am acutely aware of the repercussions of the ongoing political transformation
taking place in our country, not only for the education system. However,
true reciprocity with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society ended way back in
April 1968 and any South African pharmacist wishing to register in Great
Britain since this time has had to comply with an ever increasing range
of requirements, as laid down by the Adjudicating Committee. I graduated
10 years ago from a highly respected, internationally recognised South
African university. I was readily accepted into the adjudicating process
in late 2002, meeting all of the Society’s requirements (at first
attempt), culminating with success in the recent registration examination.
I have never had problems of an academic or professional nature. However,
it has been an extremely lengthy, frustrating and financially draining
process.
I can reassure Mr Goldin that he need not concern himself with the arrival
of any further “substandard” South African graduates. The recently
revised minimum requirements will swiftly put an end to the influx of South
African pharmacists, irrespective of their academic or professional competence.
No affluent candidate could afford the process, never mind the disadvantaged
masses.
Anne Louise Pitman
Salisbury, Wiltshire |
The
Pharmaceutical Journal