A Brief History of the Natal Branch of SAAHIP

 The following history written by Angus Mitchell was first published in the April 1978 issue of FORUM, which was also the sixth issue of FORUM, a newsletter that was started by Mike Timms to keep the Natal members informed of branch and national activities

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NATAL BRANCH OF THE

 SOUTH AFRICAN ASSOCIATION OF HOSPITAL AND 

INSTITUTIONAL PHARMACISTS

         by Angus Mitchell

The Association has been in existence for over twenty years, but has only been really active in provinces other than the Transvaal for the past eight years.

For the first fifteen years of its existence the Association which was established by a small group of pharmacists, restricted its activities to that province.

Realising the inadequacies in communication and the need    to expand its membership to include institutional pharmacists working in other parts of the Republic, the Executive Committee appointed liaison officers in each Province. These officers were requested to organise meetings on an ad-hoc basis of Institutional Pharmacists  in their respective areas to liaise with the Executive Committee on matters of mutual interest and concern.

Robin Dale, then at King George V Hospital, was appointed in the early sixties as the Natal Liaison Officer but became so frustrated with the continuing poor communication with the Transvaal that he resigned after a short time.

For some years activity in Natal was dormant, although there was a tremendous potential for positive activity.

With the formation of the Pharmaceutical Advisory Committee in the late sixties, the Chiefs of Pharmaceutical Services of the Provinces and their counterparts from the Department of Defence, the S.A.R.&H, and the Department of Health were meeting on a regular basis.

An after-hour topic of conversation, over that beer Natal made famous, was the Association, its strengths, possibilities, and weaknesses.

I was appointed by the Association as its Liaison Officer in 1968, and the following year was joined in the Department of Hospital Services by Roy Shooter. The need for regular activity in Natal to stimulate and promote the interests of hospital pharmacy was discussed at informal meetings and Roy and I began laying the foundations upon which the Natal Branch and the whole branch structure of the Association is now built.

A meeting of all the known members of the Association and other interested pharmacists was called. The first formal meeting in Natal took place on December 7^th 1970, in Durban and a steering committee consisting of Roy Shooter, the late Doug Salter, and myself was elected to provide by-laws and direction to the group.

Another meeting was called to form a Natal group on the basis of the proposals made by the Steering Committee. On Thursday 15th April 1971 at the Edward Hotel a meeting of the Association accepted the by-laws proposed by the Steering Committee  and the Natal group came into existence. The Steering Committee was elected as the first Committee with Roy Shooter as Secretary/Treasur er and myself as chairman.

The early meetings of the group were attended by approximately sixteen members and prospective members and were organised along the same lines as the general meetings held at present.

Note the use of the term “group”, as the Association’s Constitution at that time did not provide for the formation of branches, or for that matter, of groups or sections,

With the formation of the group and its ever increasing activity and interest, our Committee felt that it was absolutely essential to introduce branch activities as an integral part of the Association. This meant the transfer      of activity from a central Exco based in  Pretoria  to the periphery, where a great number of members felt that they were not part of a dynamic organisation and did not have the opportunity to meet regularly  and discuss hospital pharmacy matters and matters of common interest.

The question of branches to encourage peripheral activities was discussed at Exco meetings of the Association and at the historic meeting before the Annual General Meeting of 1972, the so-called Kyalami meeting, the members of the Exco and the group leaders from the other provinces agreed that the formation of branches was in the interest of the Association.

The constitution of the Association was accordingly amended at the AGM in November 1972 to provide for the establishment of branches, and after two active years the Natal Branch was constitutionally accepted as a branch of the Association.

At the same time as the Natal hospital pharmacists were emerging as an active and virile group, similar activity was also taking place in the Orange Free State, and the Cape Province. As a result of the constitutional amendment branches were also formed in the OFS, the Cape, and finally in the Transvaal, where the Association started 21 years ago.

I was fortunate to be elected National Chairman of the Association, following a long line of distinguished colleagues, in 1975-76, and with the assistance of a constitutional sub-committee completed a new constitution which was approved by the AGM of the Association in 1976.The new constitution provides for the chairman of each branch to serve on the Executive Committee and thus ensures that you as a member of your branch, have direct representation through your chairman on the Executive Committee.

In Natal we have been singularly fortunate in having a well-knit, loyal, and enthusiastic branch with its executive officers being active and interested in the Association and the wellbeing of its members.

The Association is presently going through a growing and maturing phase which bodes well for the future, and the Natal members who have played an important part in its progress to date, will I am sure, continue to do so in the future.