September 2014


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New look and feel at UWI Pharmacy

For years, it was tucked away at the side of the Health Services Unit building, innocuous and equally unnoticed and forgotten by staff and students alike. Then pharmacist, Nisha Ramsundar, lobbied Department Head, Dr Neil Singh for the façade to be redone, the profile lifted, and the range of services expanded. He needed no convincing, and by July 2013, the necessary approvals were granted. In September 2013, reconstruction began and in a month’s time the new UWI Pharmacy opened its doors – just in time for the new academic year.

By then, Nisha Ramsundar had left, and a new pharmacist, Andhra Maharaj, was hired to continue the makeover.

Maharaj, who came with six years of retail pharmacy business behind her, has worked for the past year to build it along the lines of the retail model she knows, making it a community pharmacy, but adding the benefit of being a department of the Health Services Unit.

“We want to engage both staff and students in the pharmacy. We want them to feel that it is their go-to pharmacy; not just for medication or prescription filling but because we offer convenience, we offer confidentiality and we offer compassion.”

As a result of the connection to the HSU, the pharmacy takes on additional roles, such as offering information to students on health matters, and making vaccines available.

“We now offer the chicken pox vaccine and the influenza vaccine. We encourage persons to walk with their immunization cards when coming for these vaccines,” said Maharaj. “We also offer OTC medication, vitamins and supplements, personal care products, stationery, gift items and snacks and drinks.”

They participate in in the Guardian Life Provisor programme, which allows an “on-spot” 80% discount off prescription medication. This applies mainly to staff, as students receive 80% cash-back off their medication at a later date.

But that is not all, she says proudly.

“We recently added CDAP to the list of services that we offer, which provides citizens of Trinidad and Tobago with free prescription medication for various chronic diseases. We hope with this fresh new look and expansion of services and products offered, that we are better able to serve the campus community.”