COVID-19 – PORUKA PREDSJEDNIKA FIP-a

To my colleagues around the world,

At this time of great uncertainty and challenges for us all, I would like to thank those who are working in the heart of the communities to make sure that patients get their treatments. The role of pharmacists is crucial: They are important actors in the health chain. Through taking care of patients with minor illnesses or chronic diseases, giving information, and performing triage, they are relieving the burden on doctors, nurses and hospital emergency departments.

FIP is doing its best to support its member organisations and pharmacists during this difficult time with global guidelines in addition to the different guidelines of its members. Community pharmacists, in particular, should take appropriate measures to protect their teams as well as their patients and our recommendations can be found here.

Virtual meetings and communications via email allow us to continue with our work. Information concerning future meetings and congresses will happen stepwise and according to the recommendations of different countries and the evolution of the coronavirus/COVID-19 situation. In addition to working as fast as we can to translate our latest coronavirus/COVID-19 guidelines into different languages, FIP is developing a plan to provide webinars and to open new lines of communication related to coronavirus/COVID-19. We recognise the importance, more than ever, of sharing experiences and knowledge. We are also collating the initiatives and activities of our member organisations on coronavirus/COVID-19 and making them freely available to all in an online repository.

Once again, thank you to all practitioners, educators, pharmaceutical scientists and regulators who are working to serve people all over the world, assuring continuity of the treatment and giving the best of themselves to win the fight against this pandemic.

I am proud to be your president.