pharmacists do not change patients ’ prescriptions .
“ When we receive a prescription we review and call back the physicians . We tell them when clients complain about side effects from the prescribed medicine . If the physicians provides an alternative drug , we change but if the physicians insist on the same medicine , we do not change the prescription ,” said Mr Machogu .
Mr Machogu urged the government and stakeholders in healthcare to conduct public awareness campaigns to educate masses on proper use of medicine . Counterfeit medicine , he said , raise cost of medication trough ineffectiveness in disease treatment and prolonged use . He also urged physicians to stop prescribing medicine by generic names only saying counterfeiters use commonly prescribed generic names to brand fake medicine .
The pharmacy chain stocks one innovator brand and two generics of medicine . Each type of medicine has a batch number traceable to specific suppliers to protect “ integrity of drugs .” Halton customers can verify authenticity of medicine sold to them through a SMS code service .
Haltons inception was predicated on Equity Bank ’ s business model that broke barriers to financial services access in Kenya . Haltons founder says that the chain pharmacy wants to become the “ Equity bank of pharmacy world ” by breaking barriers to accessing quality health care .
Doctors Louis Machogu , Edwine Barasa , Francis Mwaniki and David Ndambuki initiated Haltons limited then known as Haltons Pharma . They each invested Sh 500,000 in the business opening the first pharmacy at Koinange Street , Nairobi .
However , Halton ’ s growth has been fraught with challenges . In 2013 , six years into operation , the company closed three outlets due to cash flow demands . Fanisi Capital , an investment firm , funded Haltons to continue expanding , becoming a shareholder in the business .
Louis however says Fanisi Capital will exit the community pharmacy chain after recouping the capital it injected into the business . He however did not specify when the investment firm would exit .
Haltons Staff
18 November-December 2016