As part of its constitutional mandate to regulate both pharmaceutical products and Pharmacy professionals, the Pharmacy Board of Sierra Leone (PBSL) through its Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Trial Department has on the 9th and 10th September 2020, conducted training on drug safety monitoring and Adverse Drug Reaction reporting for interns who have completed B. Pharm. Hons degree in Pharmacy at College of Medicine and Allied Health Sciences (COMAHS-USL)
In his opening remarks, the Acting Registrar of PBSL, Dr. James P. Komeh, told the interns that one of the many ways they will be productive in their professional careers after their studies is the act of imbibing the tenet of Drug Safety Monitoring and ADR reporting.
He said, “You will be going out there to serve as the intermediary between the general public and the regulatory agency. In other words, we will entrust you with the health of the public as far as drug safety monitoring and Adverse Drug Reaction reporting are concerned. We will be utterly relying on you to raise the awareness on drug safety monitoring and the need to report adverse drug reactions. This is because as professionals and custodians of drugs, you are charged with the responsibilities to provide first-hand information about any possible adverse events on drugs or any other drug related issue. In light of this you are currently being trained on how to detect and report adverse drug reactions as enshrined in the Pharmacy and Drugs Act 2001.”
Dr. Komeh, however, implored the interns to take the best out of the training, as the facilitators are well trained and are amongst the best performing employees at PBSL.
In his statement at the end of the training, the Head of Department of the Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Trial department, Dr. OnomeAbiri, tendered his appreciation to all the interns and optimized that the training will change their narratives in order to see the need for reporting adverse drug reactions and other adverse events.
He stated that he was with the conviction that the two days training capacitated the interns on the understanding and concept of medicine safety, the acquisition of knowledge on how to fill the adverse drug reactions forms, amongst others.
“It is also my belief that you are now knowledgeable about how to detect and report ADR and adverse events following immunization (AEFI) or drug administration. Furthermore, you have also known your clinical roles and responsibilities in hospitals during ward rounds as well as the importance of patient care,” he highlighted.
Dr. Abiri concluded by advising the internees to put into practice all what they have learnt during the two days training.
One of the interns that benefited from the training, Mohamed Lamin Kamara, highlighted that the two days session helped him to appreciate what Pharmacovigilance is, and the history of how it was established in Sierra Leone, adding that he was also schooled on Adverse Drug Reaction and where to report about same.
“I am also pleased about the fact that we now know how to fill ADR forms and in addition, I am privileged to be among those that have benefited from this training because I have learned a lot, and I also promise to replicate all of the objectives of the training into my professional work,” he said.
