On 18th April’s night, we can start sniffing the fragrance of medicines at Plaza Alam Sentral, Shah Alam. Looking attentively through the grand building, people with blue t-shirts were busy setting up the booths. We can feel their enthusiasm to sow the seeds of pharmacy awareness to the public on 19th and 20th April! Yes, it was the annual Pharmacy Awareness programme organised by the UKM pharmacy forth year students with the objective of enhancing the public awareness on health and medicine usage.
Some may ask how interesting will the programme be? Let me introduce the interesting part of the programme that you shouldn’t miss out. Firstly, there were 9 booths which are medication and common issues related to diabetes mellitus and hypertension, medication used in asthma, obesity management, smoking cessation, introduction to Faculty of Pharmacy UKM, “Pastikan Betul! Kenali Ubat Anda”, supplement and common vaccines. These booths brought the latest medicine information to the public and there were three registered pharmacists available to provide any consultation. The pharmacists were available from 9am to 10pm which were divided into two shifts: morning and evening shifts. The most popular booth on the programme was the checkup booth which measurement of blood glucose level, blood pressure, height, weight and body fat percentage (topometry) were provided.
Next, the opening ceremony of the event was on 19th April 2014 by the Dean of Faculty of Pharmacy UKM, Prof. Dr. Ibrahim Jantan at 10.30am accompanied by the chairman of the event, Tan Kean Kwong and all the lecturers. All in all, the event was a success. Kudos is credited to the organizing committee for their excellent job and special thanks to the pharmacy lecturers who are always willing to support the students’ activities of the Faculty of Pharmacy UKM