The workers were responding to the call made by the National Department of Health, the South African Pharmacy Council and the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa who declared September a Pharmacy Month.

This year’s theme is titled ‘Use medicines wisely’ where pharmacists are educating patients and the community at large about correct medicines usage.

Read: TZANEEN: Van Velden hosts an Open Day event

According to the South African Pharmacy Council, the campaign will be focusing in teaching the community about the following themes: Know your medicines, store your medicines correctly, travel safely with your medicines and talk to your pharmacist.

The final results were as follows: Top male walker; Timothy Ntimbani from Dr C.N Phatudi followed by Bongani Mkansi, Themba Boyama and last year’s winners, Bornwise Shiburi and Nkateko Ndlala were fourth and fifth respectively.

Meanwhile in the female category; Jeaneth Mangena took first position followed by Doris Rasila, Yvonne Shikhibana, Kau Ntswaki and Patricia were the top females.

Van Velden Hospital Phamarcy Manager, Sylvia Sekoto, urges patients to not be scared to ask their pharmacist for any clarity if they are confused about their medication.

“We see a lot of patients that are in a hurry when picking up their medication at the pharmacy and they normally pretend to understand the instructions while they don’t understand,” Sekoto explained.

About 70 people participated in the 8,5km walk which is a great improvement from last year’s walk in terms of the number of participants and overall planning.

Recently the hospital embarked on a door to door outreach programme at Motupa Village outside Tzaneen where they educated the community about correct medicine usage and similar visits will be conducted through the year.