User:Honucha/History of pharmacy

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The first pharmaceutical infrastructure was the Medical Stores and Dispensary, organized by Sub-Assistant Surgeon Thomas Prendergast during Raffles' expedition to Singapore. British settlement in Singapore led to establishing three General Hospitals. Two were for military and sailors respectively, while the last one was for civilian use.

Medical staffing were ranked as Senior Surgeon, Assistant Surgeon, and Apothecaries. Apothecaries were medical subordinates; they were doctors that graduated from Indian Medical Colleges. To support staffing shortages at the General Hospital, a proposal to select local male students from Penang Free School to become assistant apothecaries were approved. The proposal outlined five years of training and rigorous requirements to be qualified as an apprenticeship. Those that complete the apprenticeship not only experienced strict expectations and responsibilities, but also little pay. Apothecaries resigned and left for private practice. Private practices heavily advertised in newspapers. This was considered the first system of pharmacy operations.

In the 1820s, James Isaiah, (J.I.) Woodford trained to be an apothecary in Penang. He later founded the Kampong Glam Dispensary. Another company was Martin & Line of the Singapore Dispensary. Both establishments were considered as chemists and druggists. In addition to traditional Chinese medicine, Western medicine and practices were also established. Dr Christopher Trebing arrived in Singapore and opened a dispensary called German Medicine Deity Medical Office. Following Dr. Trebing’s passing, the Medical Office continued to be operated by German owners until its demolition in 1970.

Singapore suffered from misinformation of drug advertisements and lacked standard and qualification for dispensing drugs. There was also substance abuse with opium and poison accessibility for criminal attempt. This led to creating the Medical Ordinance in 1904 and Poisons Ordinance in 1905 to create standards for qualified chemists and druggists to handle these substances. The Poisons Ordinance established regulation for the retail of poisons. One criteria was possessing certificates from the Principal Civil Medical Officer. In the same year, King Edward VII College of Medicine was established. The Medical School hosted classes and exams for the pharmacy certificate.

Throughout the twentieth century, the government amended its ordinances for education and licensing. These early legal efforts led to Ordinance No. 30 of 1933. The ordinance formally required training and registration for pharmacists after training. King Edward VII College of Medicine admitted its first pharmacy students in 1935.