Located next to the main gate of the 254 Nguyen Van Linh Campus, DTU’s University Pharmacy is becoming a trusted address not only for university staff, lecturers, and students, but even for the people of the entire Thanh Khe district of Danang.
We met with pharmacist Ms Do Thi Hai Quynh, lecturer at the DTU Faculty of Pharmacy and the one who personally manages the pharmacy, to learn more about it and about 2019 enrollment for pharmacology at DTU.
Ms Do Thi Hai Quynh at the DTU’s University Pharmacy
- In Vietnam, people who fall ill can visit a hospital or some familiar place like a hospital pharmacy or a private pharmacy for advice and to buy medicines. The name of the University Pharmacy has been going round, but it is still not very common to visit it. Could you give us some more information about the workings and the value of DTU’s Pharmacy?
The Ministry of Health decreed that the common name of establishments selling medicines should be Pharmacy. The extended name just mentioned comes from people’s habits and is a name that is easily recognized when buying medicines. According to MoH regulations, any pharmacy needs certain documents to be allowed to start operations, such as a practicing certificate issued by the department of health, a pharmacy business registration issued by the district People's Committee, a GPP certificate, and a certificate of meeting pharmacy business conditions granted by the department of health.
The University Pharmacy meets all conditions just like any other pharmacy. The difference, however, is that the university guarantees the quality of medicines and the ability to give medical advice and sell medicines of the pharmacists who graduated from DTU and who now work at its University Pharmacy.
- As such, opening a University Pharmacy like DTU’s, with its Faculty of Pharmacy, will undoubtedly avoid the situation of drug sellers without practicing certificates, or without actual pharmacist working there, or selling fake drugs - which is currently difficult to control.
It’s true that, nowadays, several pharmacies just hire a pharmacist to do the necessary paperwork when opening shop, but where no graduated pharmacist is actually present and where all work is delegated to employees with intermediate or college-level degrees in pharmacy, or in many cases even without any pharmacy degree at all. This can have serious consequences, as having no practicing certificate and no university-level pharmacy degree can lead to the person selling the drugs lacking in knowledge and experience to advise clients on which medicines to buy. Our Pharmacy, which is supervised directly by the DTU Faculty of Pharmacy, exceeds the decreed minimum of one responsible professional pharmacist during operations and instead has up to five university-level pharmacists with at least two years of experiences. This is a difference no other pharmacy in Danang can boast of.
When it comes to fake drugs, it’s the same. Fake drugs can enter the market and pharmacies through unofficial wholesale dealers or intermediaries. To guarantee quality drugs and that they don’t sell fake drug or drugs of poor quality, pharmacies must buy drugs from distribution companies meeting GPP standards. DTU’s University Pharmacy buys only drugs with clear certificates from trusted pharmaceutical distribution companies in Vietnam and abroad. All products displayed and sold at the pharmacy meet quality standards.
Students training at the DTU’s University Pharmacy
- Not any university with training in pharmacy can open its own pharmacy. Opening such a pharmacy right at the university premises shows in a way how seriously DTU has been investing in its health sciences training, doesn’t it?
DTU’s Pharmacy was created not only for business activities, but also for DTU students - and especially Pharmacy students - to have a place to train and to work. Students of university-level pharmacy need to do a one-month internship at a pharmaceutical factory, a pharmaceutical business, a hospital, or a community infirmary during their fifth year. DTU has created the best conditions for pharmacy students to do their internship right at the university’s own pharmacy with its own lecturers or with students who graduated from DTU with honors.
- Is this why DTU’s major in Pharmacy has been attracting so many applicants year after year, even though it has only been in existence for seven years? Could you tell us more about the potential of this major and about what makes training in pharmacy at DTU so interesting?
More than ten years back, pharmacy started enjoying the special interest of applicants and their parents, and especially of students with outstanding academic performance. As it’s a rather special major - relating to people’s lives and health - the input criteria are rather strict compared to other majors. But this also entails that all university-level pharmacy graduates acquire a high level of expertise and can meet business requirements. They are increasingly being “head-hunted” for many positions: at drug preparation and production enterprises, in sales at pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies, to work as clinical drug experts at hospitals and health centers, or in many other fields.
Although it came into being quite late compared to other majors here, the university-level major in pharmacy is still receiving investment to improve training. In particular, DTU signed agreements with big medicine and pharmacy university partners in the US - the University of Illinois at Chicago and the University of Pittsburgh - to consult their high-quality curriculums and to update with the most advanced medicine and pharmacy knowledge in the world. DTU furthermore invested in a University Pharmacy and in simulated pharmacies where students can train and get practical experience. The university also has collaborations with 18 large and small regional hospitals where students can do internships, such as Danang Hospital, Danang C Hospital, Ministry of Public Security 199 Hospital, the 17th Military Zone Hospital, and Hue Central Hospital.
- With all these advantages, should more university pharmacies be created, to provide medicines to the people who need them and internships opportunities to students?
DTU’s University Pharmacy endeavors to serve wholeheartedly and to give careful advice to all its clients. If pharmacy continues to be a hot major, the university has the plan to continue opening more university pharmacies in a year or two, to provide quality health care and medicines to all people in Danang and to become a trusted address for student internships. As such, you can say that the university pharmacy is an indispensible future trend.
- Thank you
For more information about Pharmacy training at DTU:
Pharmacology
For detailed information, please contact the DTU Enrollment Center
254 Nguyen Van Linh, Danang
Hotlines: 1900.2252 - 0905.294390 - 0905.294391
Website: http://tuyensinh.duytan.edu.vn
Email: tuyensinh@duytan.edu
(Media Center)