Every year, on the third Saturday of September, Ukraine marks Pharmaceutical Worker's Day. For the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, this holiday is special, because daily expert work is part of the great life cycle of medicinal products. Thanks to the professionalism of the Center's team, multi-stage expert evaluation of clinical trial materials, quality control, state registration of medicinal products, continuous pharmacovigilance, and health technology assessment are carried out.
On the occasion of the professional holiday, a celebratory meeting was held at the Center, during which the Director of the Center, Edem Adamanov, presented employees with certificates and commendations of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.
"We are used to having strong professionals working alongside us, but we do not say this to them often enough. And sometimes it is important to pause and simply say: your work matters. We see it and we value it. I want to say this to my colleagues at the Center and to the entire pharmaceutical community. Ukrainian pharmacy is changing rapidly now, and along with it the profession itself is changing, as are the requirements for specialists' knowledge and responsibility. I want the prestige of the pharmacist's profession and respect for the people who have chosen it to grow along with this," Edem Adamanov addressed the team.
After the award ceremony, Deputy Director of the Center Mykhailo Pasichnyk shared memories from the history of the holiday. At one time, he was part of an initiative group that, in the late 1990s, fought for the right of Ukrainian pharmacists to have their own professional holiday.
At first, the initiative did not have unanimous support. The pharmaceutical sector was traditionally regarded as part of the medical field, which already had its own professional day. At the same time, Ukraine's pharmaceutical community, numbering thousands of specialists — about 300-400 thousand professionals at that time — acutely felt the need for its own professional day. The initiators had to make considerable efforts to have this proposal supported at the state level.
The historic date was 7 September 1999. On that day, the V National Congress of Pharmacists of Ukraine was held in Kharkiv, during which it was officially announced that the President of Ukraine had signed Decree No. 1128/99 establishing Pharmaceutical Worker's Day and its annual celebration on the third Saturday of September.
"It was not just another holiday on the calendar. The pharmaceutical community received its own professional day — official recognition of the profession and its contribution to healthcare. A date appeared when it became possible to speak at the state level about the work of pharmacists, to honour the best representatives of the profession, and to dedicate awards and distinctions to this day," noted Mykhailo Pasichnyk.
The next step was the introduction in 2005 by the Verkhovna Rada of a separate honorary title – "Honored Worker of Pharmacy of Ukraine".
It is symbolic that Ukraine established this holiday 10 years earlier than the World Pharmacist Day appeared (2009), which underscores the deep traditions of domestic pharmaceutical science and practice.
The Center expresses its gratitude to all who stood at the origins of this holiday and created its history, laying a solid foundation for the development of the industry. At the same time, it congratulates all those involved – researchers, educators, manufacturers, logisticians, laboratory technicians, pharmacists behind the counter – who at all times, and especially now, under the difficult trials of war, hold the pharmaceutical front. We thank each and every one for their significant contribution to strengthening the health of the nation.
