NPS MedicineWise today announced its first bilingual Pharmacist Hour which will be held in Arabic later this month.Pharmacist Hour is an ongoing successful program which encourages consumers to ask questions about medicines on NPS MedicineWise’s Facebook page.
Questions are answered by a pharmacist who is a member of the NPS Medicines Line team.

The Arabic-language Pharmacist Hour will be held on Thursday 28 August 2014 from 3-4pm AEST.

Sarah Spagnardi, pharmacist and manager of NPS Medicines Line, said that Pharmacist Hour is an easy way for consumers to have their medicines questions answered by the pharmacists who staff NPS Medicines Line.

“This will be the first bilingual Pharmacist Hour in which consumers can ask questions and receive responses in Arabic – all on our Facebook page,” said Ms Spagnardi.

“We welcome Arabic speaking people to log on and ask their medicines questions. We’re excited to be able to hold Pharmacist Hour in a language other than English and to help make Pharmacist Hour and our NPS MedicineWise experts more accessible to the Australian community.”
The Pharmacist Hour initiative was launched in October 2013 and is run every week on NPS MedicineWise’s Facebook page, which has a growing following of 45,000 people.

More than 100 questions have been asked over this period with around 100,000 collective views of questions and answers. Any questions that can’t be answered on Facebook are referred to NPS Medicines Line to speak to a qualified pharmacist over the phone or referred to another health professional. Callers who require an interpreter can also access the NPS Medicines Line through the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s Translating and Interpreting Service at www.tisnational.gov.au or 131 450.

Pharmacist Hour is run weekly on Thursdays between the hours of 3pm and 4pm AEST.

Anyone can take part in NPS MedicineWise Pharmacist Hour at www.facebook.com/NPSMedicineWise.

For information on prescription, over-the-counter and complementary medicines (herbal, ‘natural’, vitamins and minerals) from a health professional, call NPS Medicines Line on 1300 MEDICINE (1300 633 424) for the cost of a local call (calls from mobiles may cost more). Hours of operation are Monday–Friday 9am–5pm AEST (excluding public holidays).