PHARMACISTS from NSW, Queensland and Western Australia are being urged to be prepared for the impact of bush fires, as temperatures across Australia soar.
With the Rural Fire Service in NSW issuing a catastrophic warning for large parts of the state, including the Greater Sydney and Hunter regions, the Department of Health is expected to issue advice regarding the provision of medications under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) in emergency circumstances.
Over the weekend Guardian Pharmacy Old Bar, in the fire affected north-east of NSW, pharmacist, Akash Mehta, led the way, opening his store on Sunday evening to meet the needs of his community.
Speaking with Pharmacy Daily, Mehta said State Emergency Services crew had knocked on his door on Friday evening warning the fire were likely to spread to the town, prompting him to evacuate.
Throughout the weekend access to Old Bar was restricted with police saying it was too dangerous to bring him into the town to secure emergency supplies of medicines.
However, on Sunday evening a report came through that the SES was helping staff from the local supermarket to get generators into the store, and Mehta contacted the SES in Taree who agreed to escort him back into the town to reopen the pharmacy.
"I put a note on the Guardian Pharmacy and Community Facebook pages that we were going to open the pharmacy for an hour or so and we were able to help out a few people," he said.
"It's crazy at the moment, because the pharmacy was closed for two days and the weather forecast for tomorrow is bad as well.
"We have done over 400 prescriptions already and it's only 2pm - the average script volume would be 300 scripts a day."
Mehta added his team was committed to staying open for the community.
MEANWHILE, Pharmacists' Support Service (PSS) President, John Coppock, has urged pharmacists in affected areas to contact the service if they need to talk about their experience.
"We live in a country prone to natural disasters such as fire and flood but when these events occur and you are involved it can cause a lot of distress," he said.
"After the acute situation the stress can be ongoing as even with full insurance, the sense of grief and loss and the work of rebuilding can take months to years to resolve, this impacts on both pharmacy owners and staff."
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