The Tamil Nadu State Pharmacy Council (TNSPC) Registrar, Dr M Thamizh Mozhi, has advised the community pharmacists in the state to comply with the formal dress code of the pharmacists by wearing clean white apron (white coat) with a badge displaying the name and registration number of the pharmacists during work time. She said the council will take steps to ensure that all the registered pharmacists working in community pharmacies wear white coats during their work time in the medical shops. She said action will be taken against those pharmacists who are not renewing their certificates on time. According to the Registrar, several state governments have framed pharmacy rules to insist on wearing white coats, and such rules were made based on the proposals of the respective pharmacy councils. Dr. Mozhi said wearing white coat during working hours will raise the status of pharmacists as healthcare professionals. She was speaking as the chief guest in the continuous pharmacy educational programme organised for the community pharmacists by the Thiruvannamalai District Chemists and Druggists Association (TNCDA). The training programme was attended by 380 community pharmacists and medical shop owners from the district. The president of the Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association, SA Ramesh, was the chief speaker who took a class on Current Challenges in the Retail Pharmacy Business. While delivering the lecture, Dr Mozhi said the pharmacists working in the medical stores should not dispense Schedule H1 category drugs without valid prescriptions. She said these drugs have certain specific conditions for sale in order to control antibiotic resistance. The pharmacists in the community pharmacies should be aware of this. The Drugs and Cosmetics Rules 1945 were amended in 2013 to include Schedule H1 drugs and they came to effect in 2014. The registrar wanted the pharmacy professionals and the chemists and druggists association to strictly follow the Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 introduced by the PCI for promoting a high standard pharmacy profession in India. She advised the pharmacist community not to miss any refresher course organised for the development of pharmacists and pharmacy profession. The president of the TNCDA, SA Ramesh, in his class on Current Challenges in Retail Pharmacy Business, said the retail chemists face multiple problems in everyday operations. He wanted the fellow chemists to adapt to the proper business principles and operate in healthy competitions by fully complying with the pharmacy rules. He advised the chemists and druggists not to indulge in fake dealings and should not dispense scheduled drugs without prescriptions. Although the retailers are facing challenges from large chain pharmacy groups like Apollo Pharmacy, Medplus, Healthkart and from the rising discount pharmacies, a retailer can become a successful pharmacy businessman if he maintains quality and honesty in his business, he commented. Later while talking to Pharmabiz, Ramesh said the association has so far conducted 9 refresher courses, spanning nine months, for the community pharmacists as part of its educational programme. This type of training programs will be conducted in all the districts as they will increase the confidence of the members. The program in each district will be conducted in rural areas rather than giving preference to cities or towns. Another speaker in the refresher course was Dr N Natarajan, a pharmaceutical scientist and consultant, who spoke on how to give advice to patients on medicines, especially on laxatives. How to use laxatives properly to avoid constipation, when should they take it, whether any other medicines can also be taken along with them, how much water the patient should take in while using laxatives, what is the laxative for children, what laxative can be given to a pregnant woman, what is the laxative for elderly persons etc are information that a community pharmacist always should understand. He said there are certain laxatives which cannot be taken regularly. He also wanted the community pharmacists and chemists to attend all the refresher courses conducted by the TNCDA for its members. Dr Natarajan is presently working as the director of the Community Pharmacy Academy floated by the CL Baid Metha College of Pharmacy in Chennai, managed by Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association.
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