moving to Brazil

B

Brit

New Member
hi guys.

i'm Brit, i live in the UK and work as a pharmacist. my fiancee and i are thinking of moving to Brazil, starting afresh in a certain way. so i've been gathering info about a possible move and have started nurturing serious doubts about the move.
you see, i'm a pharmacist and i love my job. i'd love doing the same thing even if we move to Brazil. but i've been doing some research over the net about the area that we're moving to and have found this list of pharmacies http://www.drugdelivery.ca/xx-BR-29-A-xx/Goi%C3%A1s-Pharmacy.aspx. at first i was reassured, thinking that this many pharmacies means that it won't be difficult finding a job but then i learnt that there the demand for pharmacists in Brazil is sufficiently met by the local pharmacists itself. so, now i'm really doubtful about it. is this info a wrong one? or is this true?
for the moment, i can't imagine myself being anything other than a pharmacist, i don't know if i'm ready to consider moving if i'll be unable to work as one there too.

any advice anyone?
 
Hi Brit!

I am a Brazilian pharmacist and I live in Southern Brazil. I´m gonna be very straightforward about this topic. Do not come to Brazil to work as a pharmacist. Finding a job wouldn´t be the main problem. I believe you can find a job at a drugstore very easily if you speak Portuguese. The main thing that really upsets me about the pharmacy profession in Brazil is that you are not considered more than a mere salesperson. Don´t come here thinking that you´ll be giving pharmaceutical assistance to the costumers because that will hardly ever happen. First of all, people can buy pretty much any drug without a physician´s prescription. Yes, you will try to warn them about the dangers of self medication, but most people won´t hear you, and if you don´t wanna sell them the medication, that´s fine, because they will go to the drugstore next door and they will buy it. Plus, if you refuse to sell anything, the pharmacy manager will sure not appreciate it. In some drugstores they even sell controlled substances without a prescription...Sad, but true. And as if that weren´t enough to make you think twice about working as a pharmacist in this country, the pay is REALLY BAD too...Don´t expect to make more than 1.600 reais a month (that´s about 800 US dollars in today´s exchange rate). I am sorry if I disappointed you with this...But it´s the plain truth... Maybe if you and your husband have a lot of money you could open your own business, your own drugstore...
One last thing...If I were you I would not be moving to Brazil, but out of it.:(
If you have any other questions you can email me at pintocaroline@yahoo.com.br . I´ll be glad to help you.
 
Hi Brit,

I am from Brazil and I agree, completly, with Caro.

Sometimes, you feel frustraded with yourself in you can not exercise your profession as you would like. There are some pharmacists (hospital pharmacists) that can exercise a pharmaceutical care as here in USA but usually they need to "fighit" with the physicians when they detect something wrong with the prescribed medicines.

If you want to work in a drugstore you have to sell medicines (much more is better) and take care of the administrative part.

There are laws but people do not obey. This is the problem, and we (Brazil) do not have sufficient auditors to fiscalize (its sad but its true).
 
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