Pharmacist (Manager grade)

Job Description

Program Brief

Founded in 1933, International Rescue Committee (IRC) is one of the world’s leading agencies working in post-conflict and development contexts, supporting communities in over 40 fragile, failed, and developing states. In this capacity, we work to restore safety, dignity, and hope to millions who are uprooted, struggling to endure, and wishing to advance on a path of development.

IRC has been present in Bangladesh since 2017 and obtained registration with the NGOAB in March 2018. Since IRC obtained registration in March 2018, it has moved quickly to expand its integrated emergency health and protection response through both direct and partner-based programming focused on primary healthcare, women’s protection and empowerment, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, and child protection. Through 2018, the IRC’s response strategy will primarily target Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazar, while meeting the significant needs of both refugee and host populations, as already existing vulnerabilities are compounded by cyclical monsoon and cyclone seasons that impose additional threats to the lives and protection of those refugees as well as vulnerable host populations. IRC is growing its programming to cover education and livelihoods/DRR, as well as its geographic footprint in the host community and other parts of the country.

Purpose of the Role

Under the direct supervision of the Senior Health Coordinator and overall guidance from the pharmacy technical advisors, the pharmacist will be responsible for quality assurance of all pharmaceutical products in the country programs and act as the bridge between the Supply Chain and the Health Unit. Pharmacist will participate in the definition of strategies for supply chain management, distribution, and use of medical products and donations in the programs in line with the health department’s recommendations and policies whilst ensuring national regulations are followed. The pharmacist will directly supervise the pharmacy officer and will act as dotted supervisor for the field Pharma Dispenser and Dispenser assistant. This position is the link with external actors/partners concerning pharmaceutical issues.

Key Responsibilities

Pharmaceuticals and Supplies Management:

- Oversee the medical drugs and supplies quantification and ensures that all procured items are in the CP Essential Drug List. Pharmacist will ensure drug consumption data is collected at health facilities, aggregated, analyzed, and used for forecasting the needs of the program. - Monitors the availability of medical products to avoid stock-outs and financial losses generated by expired items; Collaborates with the Senior Health Manager/s to define stock security levels in IRC’s directly implemented facilities. - In close collaboration with the Warehouse Supervisor, develops stock levels alert (based on an average monthly consumption AMC and morbidity data); gathers stock indicators, analyze them, and discuss them with the Senior Health Coordinator / Supply Chain coordinator so as to avoid stock-outs and the financial losses generated by expired items. - Provides input for international and local orders: draws up the first draft of orders with the Senior Health Coordinator, reviews the parameters involved in replenishing stock, finalizes orders based on consumption and future needs arising from the developments in the field - Participates in defining strategies for supply management, distribution, and use of medical products in line with IRC’s recommendations and policies; under the supervision of the Senior Health Coordinator and in collaboration with Health and Supply Chain Managers, support development/use of new pharmaceutical stock management systems and software. - Participates in implementing the pharmaceutical supply chain standard operating procedures. - Applies Good Distribution Practices (GDPs) for pharmaceutical products at the storage level, and Good Dispensing Practices in end-user units. These include:

Documentation verification:

- Conduct systematic checks of all medical goods purchased locally and for direct shipments, and control their details to correspond to the requested specifications and the received documentation (Certificate of Analyses) - Check the conformity of the received goods with the PO (Purchase Order) and the PL (Packing List) (strength, origin, manufacturer, batch number)

Transportation and storage:

- Ensure transportation of medical goods (including any dangerous goods and cold chain) is done in an appropriate manner and following national regulations. - Conduct GDP self-assessment for the central warehouses with the assistance of the GSC Pharma QA Manager, and follows up on Corrective Action Preventive Action (CAPA) implementation - Handle cold chain products according to the recommendations of the manufacturer - Ensure that cold chain equipment is working properly, and that daily temperature monitoring of cold chain items is in place - Report to GSC Pharma QA Manager any cold chain breach (fills the cold chain breach report), who will advise on releasing the products - Ensure that appropriate storage conditions are in place for medicines (including dangerous goods products) and advise any need for improvements - Ensure controlled drugs are managed according to national regulation - Ensure stock rotation according to FIFO (First In First Out) and FEFO (First Expiry First Out) - Support in conducting monthly and annual physical stock counts

Quality assurance of commodities:

- Ensure that all incoming products are thoroughly checked, and quality order is generated in the Integra. - Ensure with the support of HQ that all offered donations by any partner or others are aligned with the IRC Quality Assurance Policy and IRC Donations SOP - Follow up on any claim reports from the field concerning quality (IRC Complaint Form) with the GSC Pharma QA Manager and maintains a file with all claims - Investigate and put in quarantine any medical product that has been identified as suspect - meaning that it may be counterfeit, unapproved, or potentially dangerous - Disposal and returns: - Ensure disposal of health care products is done according to national regulations/or IRC Waste Disposal SOP, and that a disposal file is maintained - Handle with the support of the GSC Pharma QA Manager, any claim or batch recall according to WHO GDP guidelines (IRC batch recall SOP) - Ensure full traceability of the medical products journey through all the partners in the supply chain and is responsible for batch recall - Organize the return or exchange of rejected goods with the SCC - Manages medical stock data and indicators, analyzes and interprets performance to support the necessary programmatic decisions or course corrections in collaboration with Health and Supply Chain staff (consumption, stock levels, stock-outs, pre-stock-outs, over-stocking, donations, expired products, disposal, etc.);

Provides support to procurement and supplier management, this includes:

- In coordination with the GSC Pharma QA Manager, maintain, update, and file the CP Pharma Database (list of validated suppliers) - Provide the purchasing team with a list of validated suppliers approved and validated by the GSC Pharma QA Manager (ensures that all local purchases are done via prequalified suppliers) - Ensure that all requested items by the health team are compliant with the CP EDL and flag any discrepancy. If non-standard items are requested, ask the Senior Health Coordinator to get the green light from HQ before proceeding with the order - Ensure that a quality comparison table (QCT) is developed, and sources are verified by the HQ for all procurement. - In coordination with the GSC Pharma QA Manager, perform the market assessment for the preselection of products and suppliers and organizes visits to suppliers - Supervise the store release, distribution, and transfer of all stock to the required field site locations. - People Management - Provide direct supervision and mentorship to the pharmacy officer(s). - Ensure that the goal-setting and performance evaluation of pharmacy officer(s) and support of goal-setting and performance evaluation of Pharma Dispensers are done in a timely and systematic manner. - Ensure that an achievable leave plan is established with the pharmacy officer(s) and Pharma Dispensers. - Technical Support and Capacity Building - Provide support supervision to the Pharma Dispensers and Dispenser assistant at field sites to ensure proper management and reporting of medical drugs and supplies, and ensure a quality-assurance system is incorporated into the health facilities and medical stores - Provide technical guidance to the pharmacy officers in all aspects of drug supply management - continuously assess the staff needs, identify gaps, and adapt plans/activities to respond to these gaps. - Provide continuous Pharma training for Supply Chain and Health Unit staff on the IRC Pharma SOPs, GDPs, rational use of drugs, and quantification and supply planning.

Communication and advocacy:

- Participate in different knowledge-sharing platforms and represent IRC Bangladesh - Develop IEC materials and success stories of pharma activities.

Qualifications

- Pharmacist professional preferably having at least 5 years of demonstrated experience in pharmacy management, medical warehouse management, forecasting, budgeting, training, and monitoring of pharma activities. - Experience working with an international organization is preferable. - Experience working with multidimensional global and regional advisory teams. - Strong training and development skills; experienced in conducting training for a diverse and large number of health and supply chain staff. - Knowledge of quality control/inspection procedures and good distribution and manufacturing processes of medical supplies. - Good communication skills and comfortable working as part of a team, & experience dealing with Bangladesh Drug Control Authorities. - Ability to work independently and to organize and prioritize workload using own initiative. - Willing to travel to health facilities regularly and as required. - Must be proficient in MS Excel, Word, and PowerBI. - Experience using the Integra system for item forecasting, quality orders, and picking lists. - Experience developing innovative and user-friendly tools for field-level consumption reporting. - Good written and spoken English language skills, including report writing. - People Management. - Results & Quality Orientation. - Teamwork & Cooperation.

Specific Educational Qualification

- 4 Years’ Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm) is a mandatory requirement - Master of Pharmacy (M. Pharm.) is preferable - Valid Bangladesh Pharmacy Council registration (A grade) - Professional certificate in pharmacy management in humanitarian settings would add additional value.

Key Working Relationships:

Position Directly Reports to: Senior Health Coordinator

Technical Referent: HU Pharmacy Advisors/GSC Senior Manager, Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance

Other Internal Contacts: Supply Chain Coordinator, Senior Health Managers, Supply Chain and Warehouse Managers, Health Managers, clinical teams

Other External Contacts: UNs, INGOs and Local NGOs

Standard of Professional Conduct

IRC and IRC employees are required to abide by the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – Code of Conduct which are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating Trafficking in Persons, and several others.

Gender Equality & Equal Opportunity

We are committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer generous benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols, and other supportive benefits and allowances. We welcome and strongly encourage qualified women professionals to apply.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity in our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. Are you ready to join the most dynamic team?