Objective : This scientific writing is meant for describing the problems faced by pharmacy staffs during heavy flood situations in Johore and the actions to be taken for solving these problems.
Methodology : This finding is in accordance to the observations, experiences and interview of staffs (through questionnaires), who are involved directly and indirectly in preparations of emergency during flood. Efficiency of pharmaceutical services provided during flood is evaluated.
Result : Several problems were identified when providing pharmaceutical services, such as purchasing and supplying of items, pre-packing, preparing drug charts, visit to relief centers, post-flood health campaign, and doctors from NGOs prescibing medicines out of MOH drug formulary. During the period of flood, usage of drug and non-drug items increases drastically resulting in the current stock in store were not sufficient to compensate for the high demand. Moreover, inaccessibility of certain roads in districts such as Segamat and Kota Tinggi, aggravated and worsen the problems of obtaining goods from suppliers. Workload of pharmacy staffs increased especially in activities such as pre-packing and preparing drug charts due to shortage of manpower.
Conclusion : Even though workload increased drastically during flood, pharmaceutical services provided by the state pharmacy are still able to maintain good quality services to cater for the need of healthcare professionals and patients. Throughout the flood period, all the difficulties and hurdles faced by us had been solved; due to the cooperation from other agencies. Besides, by writing this article, a disaster preparedness guideline is produced for the purpose of improving management of future disasters.