Since the pandemic, the importance of community pharmacy has been highlighted, and Pharmacy 777 has been leading the way with trust, respect and consistency of approach.
People in the community rely on the Pharmacy 777 brand because of the Group’s focus on health outcomes, collaboration with the wider health care network and their trusted, professional pharmacists who care about the communities they serve.
The biggest strength of the 777 Group has always been its people. With the 777 vision in mind, the Directors of the Group are passionate about only working with pharmacists who are equally passionate about providing professional health services and personalised support to make a real difference to their patients’ lives.
When it comes to the future of pharmacy, the Pharmacy 777 Group is in safe hands under the watchful guidance of owners and pharmacists within its network.
Swarup (Sam) Afsar, Laura Stewart and Stefan Vrankovic, share their insights:
Community needs first
Swarup Afsar is the co-owner of pharmacies across Perth and Melbourne, and the only owner to be a two-time winner of the National Pharmacy of the Year award.
This year, Swarup was also awarded the 40 under 40 Large Business award for his proactive approach and dedication to community health, providing support from mental health services to post-transplant care services and beyond.
“Our patients are not customers, because it’s not about sales, it’s about health” Swarup said.
“It’s important to understand what the community we work in needs, what the demographic is like, what the gaps in healthcare in that community are and being able to fulfil those needs,” he said.
In supporting the professional growth and development of pharmacists, Swarup is focused on training and mentoring Pharmacy Interns, Early Career Pharmacists and managers in getting them to work in their full scope - now and in the future.
“Community Pharmacy can do more as expanded scope unfolds. We’re looking forward to being able to provide that support, working in collaboration with local health care professionals. Overall, this will reduce the burden on the current health care system and improving primary care accessibility for our communities.”
Supporting regional health
Laura Stewart is a proprietor of pharmacies across the WA Pilbara which offer a wide range of professional services including MMR’s, HMR’s, Sleep Apnoea Clinic, Immunisations, UTI and OCP prescribing services and Indigenous outreach services.
Because of the pharmacies' regional location, their patients are mostly young working families, Fly-In-Fly-Out workers and the local First Nations population.
“Our biggest challenge is maintaining a strong, sustainable workforce in such a remote location,” Laura says.
“We overcome this by fostering a supportive, team-first culture where everyone lifts each other up. Building camaraderie is central to how we operate because when our team feels valued and connected, that positivity flows through to our patients, resulting in consistent, high-quality care.”
Laura has created a rural-specific student placement program, mentoring more than 150 students from across Australia, helping to inspire and grow a sustainable rural workforce and has a 15-year partnership with the local Aboriginal Health Service significantly improving access to culturally safe, high-quality care for vulnerable community members.
Their dedication has led to the team being named national 2025 Rural Health Employer recently.
“We are committed to serving our local community with compassion, consistency, and care,” Laura added.
“We believe people living in rural areas such as the Pilbara deserve the same access to high quality healthcare as those in metro areas and we work hard to bring that to the regions every day.”
“What sets us apart is our unwavering focus on the patient — patient-centred care isn’t just a concept for us; it’s the foundation of everything we do.”
Expanding patient services
A finalist in the 2025 Patients Australia Award for Outstanding Community Pharmacist, Stefan Vrankovic understands the challenges and opportunities in pharmacy. He is a partner and pharmacist at Pharmacy 777 Albion Park in NSW.
Vrankovic’s pharmacy offers sleep apnoea services including home sleep studies level 2 and 3, non-sterile compounding, wound care clinic, HMRs, vaccinations, integrative pharmacist consultations, full scope services (UTI, OCP and skin conditions trial) and is also developing a body analysis service with nutrition consults.
“Our job as pharmacists is to help people. A lot of the reward from our work comes from the results we obtain when we help our community. These people are the ones we see daily, and we endeavour to help them with their health needs to the best of our ability,” Stefan says.
“Our pharmacy services a large community and equally a large volume of prescriptions and service demand. Daily challenges include ensuring we have enough pharmacists to not only deliver services requested but to also ensure consistent and attentive care is given for each patient coming through our doors. We want to make sure we’re providing patients with solutions to their health problems, which is why we have five pharmacists and one intern rostered on the floor daily.
“The role of community pharmacy is constantly evolving, leaning more now into a primary healthcare role where we’re looking to improve patient medical conditions overall, and stepping into the treatment space. Our aim is and has always been better health outcomes for our patients.”
