Recently, the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) has urged the Union Health Ministry to take steps to ensure presence of registered pharmacists at all retail pharmacy outlets in the country and to ensure that prescription medicines are not dispensed without proper and valid prescriptions. In a letter, the Association drew the attention of the drug authorities to certain malpractices prevailing in the country, such as running retail pharmacies in the absence of a registered pharmacist, and selling prescription drugs without proper and valid prescriptions. As per the D&C Act and Pharmacy Act, physical presence of a Registered Pharmacist is mandatory to dispense any prescription medicine. Unfortunately, the fact remains that medicines are still being dispensed from medical stores across the country without the presence and supervision of a registered pharmacist and prescription medicines are being dispensed without valid prescriptions. In India, it is an open secret that a significant number of retail stores, especially in rural areas, are being operated by non-pharmacists who take pharmacy diploma or degree certificates on rent from graduates in this discipline. According to reports, one can get a pharmacy certificate on rent, especially in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana, Telangana, etc for an annual fee. After renting out his or her certificate, the registered pharmacist will work somewhere else. It is highly unethical for a registered pharmacist to lend his or her registration to any other person to dispense drugs from retail outlets. He/she can function only at one place at a time. But non-pharmacists continue to operate medical shops with rented certificates of pharmacists.
Obviously, the IPA has taken up a serious issue. 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 shifted from product centric to patient centric with the implementation of modified pharmacy practice regulations favouring patient safety. So, the prevailing scenario in India should also change as the focus of pharmacy practice in India too is gradually shifting from product centric to patient centric. It is not true that the government is not aware of this malpractice. That the government was seized of the issue is clear from the fact that 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 retail drug stores in the country. Till then, the pharmacy profession was regulated by two statutes, namely the Pharmacy Act and the D&C Act. The intention of PPR-2015 was to lay down a uniform code of pharmacy ethics, and to empower the state pharmacy councils to appoint pharmacy inspectors in all the districts of every state in the country to inspect the retail outlets for checking whether medicines are dispensed by a qualified pharmacist. No doubt, the appointment of pharmacy inspectors as laid down in the PPR would have gone a long way to ensure that only qualified pharmacists dispense medicines in all the retail outlets. In a country where certificate-lending is rampant, the appointment of pharmacy inspectors in every district as laid down in the PPR would have played a key role in removing this malpractice across the country. Now, the Health Ministry should take some proactive measures to ensure that PPR is implemented across the country in letter and spirit.
ramesh@saffronmedia.in |