2018 was an exciting year for us. During this year’s Annual Business Meeting, a new steering committee structure was approved by the members of MPS-YPC, which we have then expanded our service. In the past, MPS-YPC developed series of continuous professional development (CPD) for the young pharmacists. In 2018, we have expanded the collaboration with various MPS chapters and external collaborators. The CPD events were designed to address the different sectors of pharmacy: Malaysian Clinical Pharmacy Symposium (MCPS) for hospital pharmacists; Pharmaceutical Industry Pharmacists Insights (PIPI) for industrial pharmacists; Malaysian Community Pharmacy Business Forum (MyCPBF) for community pharmacists and Malaysian Innovative Healthcare Symposium (MIHS) for pharmacists who are interested in innovative healthcare. We are thankful to all our participants, which mainly consisted of young pharmacists, doctors, lawyers, and other professions. Approximately 70.0% to 88.7% of post-events’ surveys and feedback by the participants gave highly satisfactory ratings and the general consensus was that they looked forward to similar events in the future.

In 2018, MPS-YPC had established multiple channels to address welfare issues especially those related to PRPs. MPS-YPC Welfare team was appointed as the secretariat for this PRP committee to facilitate PRP’s complaints to the Ministry of Health. We also launched the Professional Development Fund (PDF) for young pharmacists who require funding for their professional development. I am pleased to share that MPS-YPC has been increasingly influential among the profession, with an increase in number of followers on Facebook by a whopping 16%, and an estimated 142,000 total reaches and 423,000 total impressions in the year 2017. With the idea of expanding the awareness of the pharmacy profession, MPS-YPC engaged multiple media platforms including newspapers and radio broadcasts to strengthen the pharmacy profession image among the public. Collaboration with various youth chapters of professional bodies, including lawyers and engineers for inter-professional activities were initiated in 2018 as well. We also contributed to international strategic discussion with Asia Young Pharmacists Group (AYPG) and International Pharmaceutical Federation-Young Pharmacists Group (FIP-YPG).

Moving forward, for 2019, we will continue to strengthen our core-value, to bring together young pharmacists across the nation to shape the future of pharmacy and healthcare in Malaysia and globally. Healthcare is evolving rapidly and exponentially. We need to upgrade our services in order to push the healthcare boundaries. We believe the sky is always the limit of our excellence. Do pay attention to this space where there will be a series of new initiatives and new collaboration with the aim of understanding the formation and reality of the processes of change in the future of the healthcare industry. Do come forward and join us in shaping the future of healthcare in MPS-YPC!

Cheers,

Mai