Serving The Entire Country
When it comes to a pharmacy with a comprehensive range of medications and medical supplies available on the island, not to mention quality service; Tapion Pharmacy stands head and shoulders above the rest.
Tapion Pharmacy is as old as Tapion Hospital itself which translates into nearly 19 years. It is a vital health care resource and part of the all-inclusive character of the hospital whose mandate is to provide quality and safe care to St Lucia that is comparable to anything that is available in a first world country.
Apart from the needs of the hospital’s patients, it serves as a community pharmacy as well, providing service to the entire St Lucian community, and filling prescriptions from every physician who is licensed to practise on the island.
Over the last two decades, Tapion Hospital has grown in stature, along with its pharmacy. In fact, the Pharmacy while an integral part of the entire health care complex, nevertheless has a character and story of its own and this starts from the very inception when the planning and designing of the department sprung up from ideas generated by the staff with the help of the hospital’s in-house consultants.
Manning the department and its outlet located at Glace Motors Ltd. Marisule Castries is a nine-member staff comprising pharmacists, technicians, a purchasing officer and inventory officer. Another indication of Tapion’s commitment to the health of the nation lies in its extended operating hours from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. Monday to Friday and Saturdays from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. On Sundays and public holidays when other pharmacies are closed, Tapion’s pharmacy is on the job with opening hours from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.
A Tapion hospital spokesman said: “Health care cannot be programmed nor compromised. Someone has to be on watch to provide the people with the service they need, and Tapion Pharmacy has elected to fill that role”.
As with the hospital, standards are crucial in the Pharmacy’s operations. Because counterfeit drugs and medicines are a major issue, Tapion Pharmacy is always circumspect. For this reason, it will not source items from countries whose standards it considers dubious. This has served to further enhance the confidence that clients and patients have placed in the institution, which considers patient safety more important than unbridled profit. And of course there is the acquisition of Accreditation Canada International status to offer further backing for the process.
It is also the Tapion Hospital pharmacy’s policy to be forever current with competitive pricing. This means that its team is engaged in constant review of industry journals to update and improve knowledge that eventually shapes the standard of care and reduces incidence of medication errors and interaction. In addition, a state-of-the-art computerized package that includes internet update capabilities providing recent information that is made available to its health care professionals is another feather in the cap for Tapion Pharmacy’s constant drive for the highest standards and excellence.