CHAIRPERSON'S REPORT PCMA – AGM 18 th March 2009
Dr Jacqui Miot
I’d like to welcome all the members to this PCMA AGM and to thank them for attending the meeting. It’s great to see so many people here today. I’d also like to thank Nycomed Madus for sponsoring the following CPE
The PCMA took off to a slow start in 2008 as the intention was to reshuffle activities & responsibilities of the drivers of the Association. At the last AGM we bid a very sad farewell to Adie Bryson as she intended reducing her commitment in order to pursue other interests. It was difficult to find a suitable replacement so she assisted in keeping the association ticking over. It was with much relief that we welcomed her back to the PCMA towards the middle of the year. In her absence the PCMA slowed enormously and we sorely missed her drive and commitment to making sure the PCMA is a first-class association in South Africa.
Even during this time, the PCMA’s primary objective, remained unchanged:- to facilitate the provision of Continuing Pharmacist Education (CPE) in managed care pharmacy with a focus on sharing information & empowering Health Care Professionals. CPE programmes were hosted monthly in three regions, Jo’burg, Pretoria & Cape Town. KZN was visited once & the EC unfortunately not at all. However this year we have CPE’s planned in all the centres, including a visit to the Eastern Cape. A total number of 28 CPEs were hosted in 2008. Attendance certificates for the CPEs are still to be awarded.
The Pharmacoeconomic Seminars were introduced into the last quarter and although not much time was available to advertise the programme there was a good attendance & again the programme was most successful. In 2008 we changed the format from our usual programme of a series of 1-day workshops to a block of 3-days of workshops. This structure worked very well and many delegates indicated that they enjoyed being able to really get into the work over the 3-days.
However, 2008 resulted in a number of health economics events all happening within a very short space of time (PCMA seminars, ISPOR Conference, PIASA Workshop). In order to better manage this, PCMA convened a meeting with all the relevant stakeholders and a schedule has been drawn up for 2009 where the various health economics CPEs, workshops and conference are now better spread throughout the year. The PCMA prides itself in being able to facilitate these workshops, keeping them fresh, interesting & relevant.
The membership base of the PCMA has remained relatively static over the last year. Currently the Individual Members represent Discovery Health, Medscheme, Qualsa, Old Mutual, Medihelp, Best Med, Eternity Health, Mediscor, Medikredit, Cheiron Health, Care Cross, KOPBM, Resolution Health and others.
The Corporate Members are made up of; Abbott, Aspen, AstraZeneca, BMS, Dr Reddy’s; Janssen-Cilag; MSD, Novartis; Nycomed Madus; Schering Plough; Servier & Pfizer.
As always, I would like to thank all our members, including our corporate members for the contributions throughout the year, not just on a financial basis but also in terms of giving of their time, energy and opinions. We value your input.
I believe that the PCMA remains Fair, Accountable, Responsible & Transparent in our activities and our members attribute to these principals.
Looking into 2009 we embrace as always challenges and recognition as one of the major facilitators in continuing pharmaceutical education.
I wish the ExCo and Chairperson all the best for the New Year.
Thanks, Jacqui