A Message to our Pharmacies and Pharmacists
21st May 2020
Dear Colleagues,
Nigeria
As at yesterday, 284 new confirmed cases reported from 13 states including all of Shelf Life’s current operational states - Lagos (199), Rivers (26), FCT (8). More information available NCDC Coronavirus COVID-19 Microsite
In this week’s letter, we bring some focus on the “silent killer’’ and the World Hypertension Day largely overshadowed by the COVID-19 outbreak, provide update on the Shelf Life-Carbon working capital finance initiative announced in the previous edition, before rounding up with changes to the service documents.
World Hypertension Day marked annually on May 17. The primary aim of the day is to educate the public and increase awareness of hypertension - the usually asymptomatic condition is a major factor implicated in a range of complications such as strokes, heart attacks, renal failure, and can also contribute to dementia, premature death and disability. More details from the WHO here
https://www.who.int/cardiovascular_diseases/publications/global_brief_hypertension/en/
The theme for this year is “Know Your Numbers” and Shelf Life would like to encourage as many people as practicable possible to be involved with the May Measurement Month - aligned with the expanded theme: Measure Your Blood Pressure, Control it, Live Longer.
Shelf Life has partnered with pharmacies and pharmacists in communities where we work to improve heart health via disease management - access to medicines. We will continue to expand our selection of products in the category and explore opportunities to facilitate PoC testing, pharmacy-based services and home ownership of measuring devices to bring care closer to the communities where people live, work and study
Working Capital Finance
From the start of this week, together with our partners are reviewing applications for financing received. If interested, please reach out to the Shelf Life team in your location to assist with the process.
Please note: eligibility criteria include at least 4 months on the Shelf Life service, and a year of the pharmacy being operational.
Service Updates
Based on feedback and requests from a number of clients to our fulfilment partners, and operations team.
We are pleased to announce that all our statements have been sorted alphabetically to ease tracing of products and document review
Kenya
With over a thousand diagnosed cases so far and approaching three months (3) since the first positive Covid-19 case was reported on 13th March 2020, the government last week announced the following directives in an effort to continue containing the spread of the disease outbreak:
- That the following locations have been added to the Covid-19 infection hot spot areas where it has been established that there is a very high community spread of the disease- Kibra Kwa DC, Langata, South C, Dandora, Buru Buru, Nyayo Estate, Pipe Line, Bamburi (Mombasa) and Likoni (Mombasa). These are in addition to the three (3) locations East Leigh and Kawangware in Nairobi and Old Town in Mombasa announced two weeks ago. For this, the Government has announced an extension to the measures put in place two weeks ago i.e cessation of movement into and out of East Leigh and Old Town in Mombasa until 6th of June.
- An extension of the nation wide lockdown restrictions for another twenty-one (21) days- this includes the dusk to dawn curfew, inter-county movement and restrictions on public gatherings.
- Scaled up nation wide testing capacity from the initial two (2) laboratories in Nairobi (i.e NPHLS-NIC & KEMRI Lab) to a total of twenty (20) laboratories in ten (10) counties (private and public) that are fully operational- Nairobi (10), Kisumu (2), Kilifi (2), Mombasa (2) and Wajir, Kericho, Usain Gishu, Machakos, Busia and Trans Nzoia.
Please continue to visit http://www.health.go.ke/covid-19/ to keep up to date with the latest information and guidelines.
In Shelf Life service offer related news:
- Our offices will be closed on Monday 25th May. because of the Eid-al-Fitr celebrations to commemorate the end of the month of Ramadan. For this reason you will experience delays in orders for top-ups requested over the weekend and on Monday. We will resume operations on Tuesday 26th May.
- Service Level Agreement (SLA): This is a reminder that order fulfillment timelines for top-ups is twenty-four (24) hours after receipt of the order. Routine orders and fulfillment of orders for new subscriptions is on Fridays. Order cut-off for new subscriptions is close of business (COB) Tuesdays. Please comply with these to help us serve you better.
- For clients that we moved to top-up only or bi-weekly supply in an effort to optimise inventory management during this period we kindly request that you remember to send your orders when you run out to email: nairobi@shelflife.co or call, text to +254757075760.
- Working Capital Finance : Last week we sent out brochures containing information on how to access this scheme. An update to this is that the requirement for eligibility is now four months (4) on the Shelf Life service and one year (1) in Pharmacy operations as opposed to the initial requirement of one (1) year on the Shelf Life service. Please reach out to us if this is of interest to you.
- Last week we announced the pilot of inventory statements and sales statements for some locations. These are product additions that have been made in response to the request from you to have more visibility on weekly inventory transactions. We kindly request for as much feedback from you at this initial roll-out phase to ensure you get the best value out of this.
In General News, please see below updates this week:
Adverse Drug Reporting: As we see the introduction of new therapeutic regimes during this period, we as healthcare providers see a need now more than ever to ensure that the medicines we take are safe, efficacious and provide their intended benefits. For this we kindly request that you please report suspected adverse drug reactions to the National Pharmacovigilance Centre at Pharmacy and Poisons Board. Patients and other cadres of HCPs can also report directly via email pv@pharmacyboard.org or call 0795743049.
Countering Misinformation about Covid-19: The World Health Organization has joined forces with Governments around the world to run an awareness campaign about the risks of incorrect and false information regarding the Coronavirus pandemic. Please read more about this here:
https://www.who.int/news-room/feature-stories/detail/countering-misinformation-about-covid-19.
Capacity Building: Please see below two capacity building events happening in Kenya this week that maybe of interest to you:
- The Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (PSK), Kenya Pharmaceutical Association (KPA), Medical Learning Hub in collaboration with Glenmark Pharmaceuticals have organised a webinar for today May 21st at 6PM to 7PM on the topic: Managing the COVID_19 response team safety and welfare.CPD points will be awarded. Register here: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_b_ofML4GSsGOpT8-WQqxNw
- The Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (PSK) and WYLDE International Ltd have organised a webinar for tomorrow 22nd May at 6PM to 7PM on the topic: Covid-19 survival tips. CPD points will be awarded.Register Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_o5bd6nFzRL6c8bM5IkG81A
Please continue to verify the quality and authenticity of the hand sanitizers you sell through the Pharmacy Board and Kenya Bureau of standards (KEBS) validation scheme where you can send an sms (the code underneath the standardized mark on the sanitizers) to 20023. If the details received on text are different from that on the sanitizer i.e manufacturer information and KEBS standardized mark, please report to KEBS toll free number 1545.
Helping other retail pharmacies
If you know any other retail pharmacy we could be helping get through this difficult time, please refer them to Shelf Life and get one week service charge free when they join the family. Simply give them the number of the Sales Associate who introduced you to Shelf Life and we will take it from there once they call.
Stay Safe.
Your friends at Shelf Life
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