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A THRIVING MALPRACTICE

Ramesh Shankar
Wednesday, December 25, 2024, 08:00 Hrs  [IST]

The Karnataka State Registered Pharmacists Organization has recently brought to the notice of the drug authorities in the state about the violation of Drugs and Cosmetics Act & Rules by renting of pharmacy certificates to the pharmacy outlets by the pharmacy diploma holders and the graduates leading to unqualified persons dispensing drugs in several drug stores in the state, especially in the remote areas and villages. The modus operandi is that the pharmacists, who are working elsewhere, will lend their pharmacy certificates to pharmacy outlets for some amount of money and will submit the false affidavits before the licencing authorities. Noting that dispensing of drugs without a qualified pharmacist is a violation of Section 42 of Pharmacy Act, the organisation has called for immediate action as it emphasized on the importance of adhering to legal standards in pharmacy practice to ensure patient safety and proper medication management. The pharmacists organization argued that such violations of lending of pharmacy certificates to operate pharmacy outlets and presence of quacks or fake doctors are marring the image of the pharmacy profession as a whole in the state. But, Karnataka is not the only state where such malpractices are going on.  It is a fact that a significant number of retail stores across the country are being operated by non-pharmacists who rent pharmacy diplomas and degrees from graduates in this discipline. According to reports, one can get a pharmacy certificate in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana, etc for annual fees ranging Rs. 15,000 to Rs. 70,000. This practice is a gross violation of existing Rules. As per D&C Act, retail stores cannot dispense drugs in the absence of a registered pharmacist. It is highly unethical for a registered pharmacist to lend his or her registration to any other person. He/she can function only at one place at a time. But non-pharmacists continue to operate medical shops with rented certificates of pharmacists.

This scenario should change as the focus of pharmacy practice in India too is gradually shifting from product centric to patient centric. In the international level, the duty of a pharmacist is fast evolving from a mere dispenser of medicines in a retail medical store. Checking drug dosage, drug-drug interactions, drug-allergy interactions, drug food interactions, patient counselling, etc are all now becoming part and parcel of a pharmacist's job. Pharmacists of today are expected to interact with patients, doctors and nurses in a collaborative model as is the case with the developed countries. The focus of pharmacy practice in developed countries has already shifted from product centric to patient centric with the implementation of modified pharmacy practice regulations favouring patient safety. But, in India, the pharmacist community has not yet received the kind of status and respectability actually they deserve. Pharmacists are mostly seen by the public in the country as salesmen handing over medicines at the retail shops prescribed by physicians. It was for this purpose, the Pharmacy Practice Regulations (PPR) was notified by the Central government way back in 2015. One of the main purposes of this regulation was to curb the malpractices prevailing in the lakhs of drug stores and thereby enhancing the status and practice of pharmacy profession in the country. Unfortunately, the regulations mostly remained in paper only. The Karnataka State Registered Pharmacists Organization has stirred a hornet’s nest. The drug authorities should pay serious heed to it as both the patient safety as well as the respectability of the pharmacist community are at stake.

 

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Balasubramanian S Dec 28, 2024 3:58 PM
Sir Will you please support the demand for installing CC camera over the dispensing counter of community pharmacies which will record the malpractice of non pharmacist dispensing and acts as a solid proof in court ? The recording should be preserved for a minimum of a year and handed over to and checked leisurely by DIs in his office who obviously cannot inspect all the shops and all the time. Definitely it will act as deterent for lenders and takers of pharmacist certificate we hope.
 
 
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