By Shelly-Ann Thompson, Staff Reporter
WITH SO much talk in the last couple of weeks about Postinor 2, the 'emergency pill' now available without a prescription but which calls for a counselling session with a pharmacist, we wanted to see if women were really getting the requisite counselling.
We started by checking several pharmacies in the Corporate Area, St. Thomas and Manchester to determine where it was being sold. Several of the pharmacies, including a few major ones in Kingston and Manchester, said they had not yet received the product. I eventually found a place in upper St. Andrew that had it in stock and last Wednesday evening went to make a purchase.
There were only a few customers inside the air-conditioned pharmacy. I put down the scarcity of customers to the fact that Tropical Storm Claudette was threatening to pelt the island with showers.
I approached a clerk and asked for the 'emergency pill'. Her eyes slid up and down my body, as if she were trying to ascertain my age, background, occupation, before directing me to the drug counter.
At the counter I again made the request for the 'emergency pill' and was told that I had to speak with the pharmacist first.
THE CONVERSATION
After finishing her conversation with another customer, the pharmacist finally turned to me.
Pharmacist: Yes.
Reporter: A want to buy the 'emergency pill'.
Pharmacist: OK, have you used it before.
Reporter: No.
Pharmacist: So you don't know the instructions, then. Take one now and you take the next one in the next 12 hours.
Reporter: OK.
Pharmacist: Take it between 72 hours. Since you have... you have (voice becoming inaudible, her left hand making a gesture)... you know...
Reporter: (Looking puzzled) Huh?
Pharmacist: OK. (She stepped off, then turned and said) It's $444.
Reporter: OK.
This 'counselling session' had lasted no more than about 20 seconds.
WHAT SHOULD HAPPEN
Buying birth control can be an intimidating process, especially for younger women who may quietly scribble the name of the contraceptive on a piece of paper and slip it to the clerk at the drug counter.
However, the reclassification of Postinor 2 as a non-prescriptive product does require that women buying the product get some form of counselling from a pharmacist before being given the product.
Basil Wright, marketing manager of Medimpex which distributes the pill, says it is necessary to first determine whether this contraceptive is the most suitable for the consumer.
"There is information that a pharmacist has to impart to a client. The customer should be assessed to determine if the contraceptive is the right one or if the individual should be on a regular contraceptive."
He continues, saying that the pharmacist also reserves the right to deny or grant the contraceptive.
Pharmacists are supposed to ask questions about and provide information on:
The proper use of the pill
Spell out the side-effects
The importance of using the pill properly
Age (to determine whether the person has reached the age of consent). If the person is under 16 the pharmacist makes a decision whether to go ahead and sell it.
If the customer is on medication.
If the customer has an illness
Are you pregnant
VOICE RAILS: WHAT THEY THINK
OF THE 'EMERGENCY PILL'
Do you think the 'emergency pill' will encourage carelessness despite the warning not to abuse it?
" Yes, reason being, women know that there is a prescription available to prevent pregnancy after sex, hence they are going to abuse it. It doesn't protect against STDs so the chances of acquiring infections and diseases will also increase."
- Kimara Kenyon, 23
"It is a very careless proposition. It's like saying it's OK for me to have sex, but what about AIDS. It is not appropriate because too many diseases are out there. We need to be more responsible with our body."
- Jennifer Allen, 48
Do you have any qualms about using the 'emergency pill'?
"No. I do not want any more children, so if this is a safe way then I would use it but I'm concerned about the side-effects."
- Althea Green, 40
" I do not trust those 'tales' about birth control so I would not use it. I have never taken a birth control as I do not want the side-effects.
- Kamo Morgan, 27
