The following piece is a compilation in conjunction with FIPYPG’s 20th Anniversary.

Established in 2007, the Malaysian Pharmacists Society-Young Pharmacists Chapter (MPS-YPC) has been a prominent chapter under the umbrella of MPS. It was set up with the aim of bringing together young pharmacists, which currently form the largest cohort of the profession, to shape the future direction of pharmacy and healthcare in Malaysia.

At MPS-YPC, we represent the interest of young pharmacists from all sectors, be it public, private, industry, hospital, community, and even non-traditional fields which pharmacists work in. Assuming the key role in MPS’s quest to advance the pharmacy profession, MPS-YPC actively engages in advocacy, development and various other initiatives aimed at empowering young pharmacists to be future-ready.
14 years on, the MPS-YPC is now a growing national movement, counting more than 150 associates as its own along with representation that spans 6 regions.

The FIPYPG 20 years anniversary report is also out! Click here to access the report: https://www.fip.org/file/5048

Don’t forget to check us out on page 90-93 😊

Vision 

To bring together young pharmacists across the nation to shape the future of pharmacy and healthcare in Malaysia

Mission 

⦁ To promote and strengthen the ties between young pharmacists through networking activities
⦁ To provide young pharmacists with a channel to air their professional concerns and to express their views on pharmacy and health related issues
⦁ To instil a sense of pride in the pharmacy profession
⦁ To promote excellent pharmacy practice that reflects the highest degree of professionalism and ethical conduct
⦁ To uplift the image and perception of pharmacy profession amongst the public and fellow healthcare professionals
⦁ To nurture and develop future healthcare leaders

The MPS-YPC organisational structure enables a focused approach on these functions: marketing and communication, corporate relations, public engagement, professional development and networking. Meanwhile, flagship project directors in the areas of clinical pharmacy, community pharmacy, industry pharmacy and healthcare innovation are made steering members to ensure alignment of our key initiatives to the overall MPSYPC goals..

14 years on, MPSYPC continues to provide an elaborate platform for young pharmacists to drive innovative and impactful initiatives aligned with its goal.

Member 1

Past experiences:

2010-2013 Student Affair Officer
2012-2015 Secretary
2016-2018 Deputy Chairperson
2019-2020 Chairperson

Years with YPC: 10

From the personal perspective, I am grateful that MPS-YPC has provided a training ground for me to learn and organize documents and organising. MPS-YPC and MPS are never short of events to organise! More importantly, I learnt how to weigh the risk versus benefit in every decision to be made.
No doubt, such training has built my confidence and professionalism. I got my promotion and recognition in my career as an academician and researcher.
Internationally, we built a stronger relationship with Asian Young Pharmacists Group (AYPG) and hosted the biggest AYPG Summit in Malaysia. MPS-YPC was promoted at FIP and FIP-YPG, and now is an active collaborator with both parties.

Nationally, we started advocacy for better welfare for provisional registered pharmacists (PRPs/fresh graduates). We had dialogue with government officials to express concerns from PRPs on job security (i.e., low payrolls, unfair terms in employment contracts, unfair overtime and sales target demands from supervisors, mental stress at the workplace). We also advocate better training for PRPs through 4 flagships programmes.

We have put in lots of effort in promoting MPS-YPC through our INFINITY (i.e., Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube) platform and web page to reach out to young pharmacists, who are active in social media.

Member 2

Past experiences:

MIHS 2016 Chair, AYPG Leadership Summit 2017 Co-Chair, Deputy Chair, Chairperson

Years with YPC: 5 

YPC involvement has been instrumental in developing my career outside of the workplace. Juggling between work and YPC commitments, I simply had to learn how to be more time efficient with added responsibilities laying over my shoulders.

YPC has also given me an early experience of working in groups. The various projects of YPC were a great platform for a healthy exchange of ideas, feedback and criticism, and it certainly helped shape me into a person who appreciates the value of teamwork and team spirit.

The pandemic hit at a time when my term was just about to get started, and that has arguably been the biggest challenge that has faced the team since. The fundamental lack of physical touch would increase distance between members and negatively impact upon team morale.

Thankfully, our remedial efforts coincided with a time when resilience and the sense of understanding was building within the team. We got back on track courtesy of a brand-new team character and the grit of every individual member to see through the rough patches.

Member 3

Past experiences:

Chairperson

Years with YPC: 8

YPC allowed me to have a better ability to see things from others’ perspective. Most important part is to build a network with like-minded individuals.

I would say that my proudest moments were to be able to:
1. Build a team to advocate for PRP placements on behalf of pharmacy graduates
2. Strengthen MPS-YPC branding and presence on Facebook

The biggest challenge for me was the lack of manpower. We started with a small team and organized events addressing issues and challenges faced by pharmacy graduates, PRPs and young pharmacists. Examples include CV workshops and sharing on experience of working in different sectors by accomplished individuals.

Member 4

Past experiences:

MPS-YPC Deputy Chairperson (Executive & Operation) 2018/2020

Years with YPC: 5

YPC taught me to have better Event Management skills: I had the chance to be involved in many interesting events and learn to handle any sudden issues that occur. This skill is also useful for work in handling teams for projects. YPC also helped me in my career in terms of expansion of network and I had the chance to talk to multiple seniors who had vast variety of experience in the same industry.

The challenge for me were differences in opinions from various people, whether it was event or society operation management. I try to be open and honest in giving and receiving feedback as communication is the key.
Find out more about us here.