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Kansas has a growing shortage of pharmacists, but given the resources, the University of Kansas could fix the problem.
KU has the only pharmacy school in the state. The six-year program graduates slightly more than 100 students a year, and that simply is not enough.
Much of rural Kansas in particular is struggling to keep pharmacists -- seven counties across the state have no drugstores and 32 have just one.
KU is addressing the situation, seeking $50 million from the state to expand the pharmacy program at Lawrence and Wichita.
KU needs the support first of the Board of Regents to put a request before the Legislature in 2008, then of lawmakers to approve the spending.
The demand is there for a larger program. While there is a shortage of trained pharmacists taking jobs in rural Kansas, there is certainly no shortage of applicants to KU. The school turns away about 335 eligible students a year.
They fill your prescriptions, but more than that, pharmacists fill a vital need in towns throughout the state. Pharmacists are a source of health information and, in some cases, one of the few sources in rural areas with limited access to health professionals.
Legislators should not consider the money a waste. Our state universities are here to serve our state, and this is a good example. Money invested in state universities can pay a big return.
It is far more likely that students from KU's pharmacy school will end up serving our state than the possibility we will recruit more students from other states.
Hoisington is one example of this. The Barton County community lost its pharmacist early this year but found two students who are going to take on the role in the town.
KU's placement efforts include taking students on tours of the state, which includes rural towns, and a program that places students with professional pharmacists during two years of study. This opens their eyes to the important need and role pharmacists fill every day in rural Kansas.
If regents and legislators, too, approach this with open eyes, well-invested state resources can solve this problem.
Editorial by the Hutchinson News
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