By Jemima Oloo

Last Friday, the School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences in conjunction with the Pharmacy Club hosted the inaugural White Coat Ceremony for first year Pharmacy students. A white coat ceremony is a celebration for medicine students or students in health related fields, which symbolizes their entrance into the medical profession with the distinguishing attributes of professionalism, responsibility and patient care.

The ceremony was graced by representatives from the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, the Kenya Medical Association, the Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya and the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academic Affairs and Student Affairs, Prof. Munyae Mulinge, who urged the students to work towards being utmost professionals in their field of study.

According to the Club Patron of the Pharmacy Club, Dr. Ermias Terefe, the white coats received by the students represented their commitment to the pharmacy profession and adherence to ethical and moral standards. The event also served as a reminder to students of their responsibilities as healthcare professionals and to instill in them the values of compassion, empathy and respect for patients.

The coating ceremony was officiated by the Dean, School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences Prof. Francis Ndemo, Club Patron Dr. Ermias Terefe, CEO, Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya, Dr. Lucas Nyabero, and faculty members Dr. Amsalu Defergsha and Prof. Larry Kimani. After the coating, they took a Professional Pledge administered by Dr. Lucas Nyabero.

Director Pharmacy Practice, Pharmacy and Poisons Board, Dr. Wilfred Ochieng urged the future pharmacists to catch up with future trends in the pharmaceutical world. He emphasized that learning is continuous and the need for one to be up to date regardless of their area of expertise, especially because pharmacy is the commitment to lifelong learning.

He addressed the myth on pharmacists being viewed as shopkeepers by reiterating that the students needed to see themselves as being more than that by constantly choosing to walk through the narrow path and going against the grain.

In his remarks, Dr. Lucas Nyabero emphasized to the students that pharmacists were charged with the provision of effective, efficient, safe, quality and affordable pharmaceutical care. He reminded the young students as he emphasized the power pharmacists have in dispensing drugs and the nobility of the profession that embodies the virtues of respect, responsibility and honesty.

Finally, he urged the young pharmacists to go out in pursuit of knowledge to enable them to standout not just as pharmacists who would graduate and get employed but as entrepreneurs who will create jobs for many and thus distinguishing them as problem solvers.

Congratulations to our first year Pharmacists.