Country Plaza Medical Centre opens pharmacy

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The pharmacy half of the Country Plaza Medical Centre is officially open and serving the local Strathmore community. 

A ribbon cutting was held June 9, to commemorate the beginning of operations in earnest, with members of the community and local dignitaries having been invited to participate. 

“It has been a dream for me to open a new pharmacy, so it comes true. It is very overwhelming, a tedious process to open a pharmacy. Finally, we are ready, happy,” said Nagaraju Thumu, prescribing pharmacist. “I can do all the possible services a pharmacist can do. Now, I feel like I am able to provide all of the services to the community at my full potential.”

Thumu described the process of receiving approval by the Alberta College of Physicians and Surgeons (CPSA) as being extremely thorough and challenging to complete. 

Now that the pharmacy has been cleared to operate, Thumu is able to maintain a comprehensive inventory to get patients what they need on demand as per their prescriptions. 

Thumu returns to Strathmore, having previously resided in the community in 2015, then vacating due to a lack of full-time opportunities in the area. 

“I heard from a Shoppers Drug Mart associate … they had been asking me to come back to Strathmore. I bought a home, I worked here at Shoppers running the clinic very successfully, and so I said to myself, this is the time to start another chapter as a pharmacy manager and owner,” he said. “Right now, we are still settling. It is just me and I have not hired anyone yet because I just want to see how it runs so that I slowly hire people.”

The Country Plaza Medical Centre opened its doors as a walk-in clinic on March 4. Part of the convenience of the clinic has been to provide service even if the team is not a patient’s regular physician and have prescription information on site for immediate distribution.

“Patients need immediate care. It’s not like they can wait, so we are able to fulfill that. Even medication-wise, sometimes some pharmacies, if you go, it will take one or two days to get those ready, but we will be able to get it ready right away,” said Thumu. “If (patients) have any questions, unlike other pharmacies, it has to be faxed to the clinic, which may take days or weeks. Here, I can quickly go talk to the doctor and get that settled right away.”

He added his next steps will be to begin issuing prescriptions himself, provide point of care testing, and travel consultations, among others, though these services aim to become available on a yet to be determined timeline.