Skills shortage constrains pharmacy expansion plans

Samantha Enslin-Payne: Business Report, 18 April 2011

Shortage of pharmacists is hindering retailers from expanding and the state from providing adequate services, but plans to train pharmacy technicians may be  a short-term solution.

Ivan Kotze, the executive director of the Pharmaceutical Society of SA, said the shortage of pharmacists was frightening, adding that bottom line was there were not enough pharmacists to open new pharmacies.

The shortage is due to qualified pharmacists emigrating, retiring or not returning to work after having children, as well as constraints at universities that limit the number who are trained. The problem, which has been apparent for several years, has become acute as big corporates roll out large numbers of dispensaries.

Kotze said previously pharmacies were small independent stores with one pharmacist. But there was an increase in corporate-owned pharmacies, which traded for extended hours and required at least two pharmacists to comply with labour laws. In the next three to five years the Clicks chain plans to grow its store base to 500 with a pharmacy in each store. The group currently has 382 outlets and 266 in-store pharmacies. Clicks has vacancies for 200 pharmacists and is paying the pharmacists it currently employs 23% more than it did last year, Clicks Group chief executive David Kneale said last week, adding that the monthly starting salary for a pharmacist was on average R29 500 working in a state facility and about R32 000 at Clicks.

Although the private sector may pay more, the state has an advantage as the work does not include weekends. In retail, pharmacists work some weekends and longer hours. Kotze said it was very difficult for the private sector to compete, adding that research had shown that at Clicks, for example, pharmacies covered 6% of floor space but accounted for 30% of the wage bill.

Pick n Pay spokesman Tamra Veley said the group had experienced a shortage and currently had six vacancies, including for pending new stores. Pick n Pay has 19 pharmacies, with another four opening in the next four to six weeks. Dispensaries may not be too profitable for retailers, but they bring customers into stores and so boost front shop sales. Kotze said of the 4 390 pharmacies in the country, there were 2 961 retail, 245 at private hospitals, 647 state pharmacies, 250 manufacturers and 287 wholesale pharmacies. There are 7 000 to 8 000 pharmacists working in South Africa of the 12 000 registered.

Of those registered about 43% work at retail pharmacies and 35% in private and state hospitals, with the balance in manufacturing, research, academia and professional administration. Explaining the gap between those registered and those working, Kotze said pharmacists remained registered with the council because if registration lapsed community service had to be repeated to re-register. Kotze said it was expected that this year and next 740 South Africans would qualify. It takes six years to qualify as a pharmacist, including one-year community service and one year internship.

Of those who are studying at the eight universities offering the course some are from other African countries under a Government agreement, which also stipulates they are not allowed to practice in South Africa. Kim Ward, the deputy director of the School of Pharmacy at the University of the Western Cape, said student numbers had increased fourfold over the last few years, but due to budget constraints the department had the same number of lecturing staff.
Attracting staff was difficult because universities could not compete with private sector salaries. The University of the Western Cape did not have sufficient laboratory facilities and apparatus for so many students and often relied on computer simulations, which was not a satisfactory replacement for practical work. She said discussions with Clicks and other companies were focused on increasing capacity so more students could be enrolled. Michael Danckwerts, the University of the Witwatersrand's Head of the Department of Pharmacy, said most pharmacy schools "need money for staff and money for labs", but most universities were under pressure to cut expenses.