Careers: Pharmacy has a lot of opportunities

Being a qualified pharmacist brings you a lot of opportunities.

We spoke to Iva Carboni and her daughter Alexia, as well as Andries Eigelaar of Hillcrest Pharmacy about the career of a pharmacist.

They say there will always be the need for a pharmacist in society, as there always will be a need to have someone to administer and control the dispensing of medicine.

There will also always be people with health problems, needing medicine.

The career opportunities of a pharmacist do not only consist of retail, the sector the Carbonis and Eigelaar are working in.

Some opportunities include working in a laboratory, in the corporate world, in manufacturing or registering of medicine, academia and working for the government or a medical aid.

To become a pharmacist a student needs good matric marks on higher grade in mathematics and science.

Rhodes, Wits, Potch, Nelson Mandela University and Medusa are the universities in South Africa that teach pharmacy.

The students who apply for the course will only be allowed at a university after passing an interview process.

To become a registered pharmacist with the SA Pharmacy Council, takes six years.

The student has to first complete the four-year course at university. After that they have to complete one year’s internship and one year community service.

Our three pharmacists say they love their work because every day is different.

They also have to continuously learn about new drugs on the market, new diseases and new laws about medicine.

Every patient in need of medicine has different needs, which brings another dynamic in this people-orientated work.

On the downside of pharmacy, the three pharmacists say every sector in pharmacy has different disadvantages. Retail pharmacists’ disadvantage is that they have to endure long working hours.