Assessment and Utilization of a Pharmacist-Assisted Drug and Poison Information Centre in Pakistan

Objective: To evaluate the utilization of the pharmacist-operated Drug and Poison Information Center (DPIC) services in Pakistan. Methods: All queries from 2015-2017 were retrieved from PharmAssist DPIC database and were retrospectively analyzed. The variables obtained for analysis were call types (drug or poison), type of callers, type of drug queries, and type of poison queries. Results: A total of 2209 queries were analyzed. The highest queries in the year 2015, 2016 and 2017 came from general public as 44.0%, 56.3%, and 80.6%, followed by consultants as 11.4%, 7.3%, 4.4%, general physicians as 7.20%, 3.40%, and 3.85%. Students and interns show least usage with students 2.20%, 2.30%, 0.29% and interns 0.27%, 0.23%, 0.09% in the year 2015, 2016 and 2017 respectively. The most frequent queries received at PharmAssist DPIC were related to miscellaneous queries (14.7%), indications (13.6%), strength (13.4%) and drug availability (12.1%). The majority of poison calls were for ingestion (80.3%), followed by animal bite (6.6%), dermal contact (5.5%), injection (2.2%) and inhalation (2.2%). Conclusion: It was concluded that as the awareness of our service enhanced, the utilization also increased. In order to have enhanced usage of the service, more frequent awareness activities need to be performed to have improved patient care.

Reconsideration and definition on the concept “Public Private Partnership” in the field of international health / 国際保健医療

Objectives  Recently, a Public Private Partnership (PPP) has drawn attention as an efficient strategy to response toward increasing different needs for health in low-income and middle-income countries under tremendously growing private sectors and restricted public finance. Neveretheless, in the society of international health development, there is no commonly acceptable definition of PPP. To make the targets and purpose of the PPP clear, the study attempted to define the PPP, reconsidering the relationship among five concepts, which have been recently used to solve social issues, such as BOP business, social business, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), and Creating Shared Values (CSV) as well as PPP.Methods  We conducted scrutiny of definitions of PPP in other literatures using bibliographic retrieval and associated PPP with the other four concepts in order to attempt to define PPP.Results and conclusion  We analysed the contents and relationship of the five concepts. Thus, the PPP can be defined as a process in which public and private sectors collaborate to aim to solve a social issue, not only to reply to societal expectation but also to achieve company growth.

CSR by Islami Bank in healthcare – stakeholders’ perception.

Background: In the Bangladesh society, a few organizations are contributing through their activities on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). It is a general belief that the contribution of Islami Bank Bangladeshi Limited in CSR is highest among the financial institutions. It is an observation that IBBL’s CSR contribution in the healthcare sector is very significant. Objective: This paper explores the stockholders’ perception of CSR contribution in the healthcare sector by Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited (IBBL). Method: Authors used qualitative approach in doing the research. Data were collected through a survey. Likert scale was used to explore the significance of stakeholders’ perception. Results: This paper reports the findings of a qualitative study on perceptions of CSR by IBBL in the healthcare sector of a heterogeneous group of stakeholders. The findings reveal the perception of stakeholders towards the social contribution of Islami Bank Central Hospital (IBCH), an Institution for CSR in healthcare by IBBL. The stakeholders believe that this hospital is significantly contributing to the society through its support in the healthcare sector. It is also found that the hospital is proactive in providing healthcare support to the community through its highly standard human resources, world class medical equipment, outstanding management team and superb customer care support. Conclusion: This exploratory study makes a contribution to the relatively new body of work on CSR in Bangladesh, especially in the healthcare sector by IBBL and hopefully will encourage further research on the topic. This study will also contribute to improve the governance, social, ethical, and environmental conditions of the healthcare sector.