Post Basic Pharmacist Assistant at NACOSA

Introduction

NACOSA is looking for a suitably qualified candidate within South Africa to provide administrative and pharmacy related support on the NACOSA HIV and TB programmes: Sex Work (SW); Adolescent Girls & Young Women (AGYW); People who inject drugs (PWID), University Campus Clinics (UCC), Gender-based Violence (GBV) and Community Responses & Systems (CRS) as programmatically required and aligning with Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP).

Specification
The Post Basic Pharmacy Assistant position supports and delivers on NACOSA’s AGYW, SW, PWID, GBV and CRS Programmes implemented in South Africa, reporting to the Clinical Manager.

The Main Duties Of The Role Are

• Perform administration functions in relation to health products and equipment procurement.
• Assist pharmacist or Clinical Manager in dispensing medication orders to contracted implementers.
• Manage NACOSA health products store and stock management in line with GPP, including forecasting, ordering, receiving, labelling, storing, repacking of products, issuing/distributing and recording of health products and equipment for NACOSA offices and contracted implementers according to the SOP.
• Delivery of pharmaceutical products when necessary.
• Communicate with relevant personnel at implementer sites to ensure timely distribution of health and pharmaceutical products.
• Support with compiling, keeping and maintaining inventory of the above health products and equipment and assist the pharmacist and/or clinical manager in the retrieval of accurate, concise, applicable data relating to stock usage.
• Maintains established policies and procedures concerning quality assurance, security of controlled substances, and disposal of hazardous waste drugs.
• Draft SOPs and job aids related to procurement and distribution of pharmaceutical products, e.g. how to order schedule drugs etc
• Monitor consumption data, requisitions and stock cards of health and pharmaceutical products at implementer level including HIV & Syphilis Rapid Diagnostic Test kits, Pre- Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Pima CD4 Monitoring accessories (with PSM Mentor)
• Assess dispensing rooms of implementers for compliance to GPP.
• Co-facilitate PSM training for implementing partners and assisting them to become GPP compliant and NiMART authorized/PrEP ready
• Network and liaise with key role players and stakeholders including the Department of Health at national, provincial and local levels on relation to stock procurement.
• Submit reports and data to the Clinical Manager and locum Pharmacists as required.

Requirements
We are looking for a mature and experienced person with a successful track record of health and pharmaceutical product management.

• Post Basic Pharmacy Assistant qualification
• 5yrs relevant post qualification experience
• Dispensing certification is required
• Knowledge of HIV/AIDS and TB programmes and RTCQI
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English. Proficiency in one or more South African languages besides English a distinct advantage.
• Understanding of the NGO sector and big donor processes/requirements will be advantageous.
• South African national or permanent residence is preferred.
• Valid driver’s license is a requirement.
• Competent in MS Office Suite.
• Excellent Excel skills - able to develop new templates; use formulae; capture data; generate reports etc

Personal qualities:

• Must be accurate and have an eye for detail.
• Be able to follow instructions and detailed procedures.
• Sensitive to issues around key populations at risk for HIV and gender/sexuality diversity.
• Can work without supervision, and flexible to cope with changing circumstances and time pressures.
• Be able to work independently, be highly organised, deadline driven and efficient with planning skills.
• Willingness to travel extensively.
• Ability to work well in a team environment, and to coordinate multiple inputs to tight deadlines, with a variety of internal and external stakeholders.