World Pharmacists Day 2026 With Patients’ Aid Foundation

Medicine Should Never Be Out of Reach

A prescription can tell a patient what medicine they need, but it cannot tell them how they will afford it. For many families across Pakistan, reaching a doctor is only the first step. Once the prescription is in their hands, the price of medicines can become another difficult barrier between illness and treatment.

For a patient who has travelled from a marginalised area to JPMC in Karachi, the journey may already have cost them transport, time and a day’s income. They finally meet a doctor, receive the treatment they need and then arrive at the pharmacy. That is where a simple piece of paper can suddenly feel very heavy. 

Because treatment only works when the patient can actually obtain the medicine.

When the Cost of Medicine Becomes Another Illness to Carry

Medicine is not a luxury that patients can simply postpone.

Someone living with a chronic condition may need medicines every month. A cancer patient may require repeated treatment. An elderly person may depend on several prescriptions at once. For families with limited income, these expenses can quickly become difficult to manage.

This is why access to healthcare cannot stop at the doctor’s consultation.

A patient may somehow arrange money for the first appointment, but what happens when the prescription costs more than the household can spare? Does treatment stop? Does the patient reduce the dose? Do they delay buying the medicine until they have enough money?

These are not merely financial questions. They can directly affect whether a person is able to continue the treatment prescribed by their doctor.

Patients’ Aid Helps Keep Medicines Within Reach

This is where Patients’ Aid Foundation’s work at JPMC becomes deeply meaningful.

Over 3 decades, Patients’ Aid has supported healthcare services at Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre, helping provide medical care to patients who may otherwise struggle to afford it. Among its services is support for a pharmacy and drug bank that provides Free medicines to deserving patients.

Patients’ Aid reports that around 400 patients receive free medicines each day through its supported services.

For someone who cannot afford a prescription, that assistance is not simply about receiving a packet of medicine. It can mean continuing a treatment that might otherwise have been interrupted.

This is why supporting the pharmacy matters.

A donation to Patients’ Aid can help sustain healthcare services where the need is immediate and continuous.

Help support Free medicines at JPMC, Donate to Patients’ Aid Foundation

The Vital Role of Pharmacists in Modern Healthcare

World Pharmacists Day, observed every year on 25 September, is an opportunity to recognise the people who stand at an important point in the healthcare journey.

The pharmacist is not simply the person behind the counter handing over medicine.

They are often the person a patient turns to with the questions they were afraid to ask elsewhere.

• How should this medicine be taken?
• What should I do if I miss a dose?
• Can I take these medicines together?
• What should I know before starting this treatment?

Clear pharmaceutical guidance can make treatment easier to understand and safer to follow.

In a busy public hospital such as JPMC, where patients arrive from different parts of Pakistan and may have very different healthcare needs, the role of pharmacy professionals becomes even more significant.

This World Pharmacists Day, Patients’ Aid Foundation appreciates our pharmacists for the invaluable service they provide to our nation. You are seen, you are valued, and you play an important role in Patients’ Aid’s humanitarian initiative to support access to quality healthcare at Jinnah Hospital. 

Inside the Pharmacy Operations at JPMC Karachi

Consider a patient who has travelled hundreds of kilometres to seek treatment.

They have already faced the anxiety of illness, the difficulty of travel and the uncertainty of a diagnosis. When they finally receive a prescription, they should be thinking about recovery, not whether they can afford every item written on the page.

Patients’ Aid works to reduce that burden for vulnerable patients seeking treatment at JPMC.

Its humanitarian healthcare work extends beyond medicines, supporting patients through different areas of hospital care. But medicine access remains particularly important because a consultation without access to the required treatment can leave an important part of healthcare unfinished.

That is why every contribution matters.

A donation does not need to be enormous to have meaning. A small recurring contribution, Zakat where applicable, Sadqa, or a donation made in someone’s memory can become part of a larger effort to keep essential healthcare available to people who need it.

This World Pharmacists Day Let’s Give Someone One Less Reason to Worry

On 25 September, we celebrate pharmacists for their knowledge, patience and responsibility in helping people use medicines correctly.

But we can also remember the patient standing on the other side of the counter.

• The person quietly calculates whether they can afford the prescription.
• The mother is wondering how she will manage another month’s medicine.
• The elderly patient who has already travelled far for treatment.
• The family that came to JPMC because private healthcare was beyond their reach.

For them, access to free medicine can bring something that money cannot easily describe: the reassurance that their treatment does not have to stop simply because their circumstances are difficult.

Patients’ Aid Foundation continues its humanitarian healthcare work so that vulnerable patients can receive care with dignity.

This World Pharmacists Day, let us thank the professionals who help turn prescriptions into treatment, and help keep the medicines within reach of the people who need them most.

Donate to Patients’ Aid Foundation today and help support Free medicines for deserving patients at JPMC.