[india-drug] Appointing Pharmacy Inspectors: Editorial in Pharmabiz

["Sri" <sri.chari@gmail.com>]

Appointing Pharmacy Inspectors
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PHARMA BIZ   Wednesday, December 27, 2006 08:00 IST
P A Francis

The reported move by the Pharmacy Council of India to appoint pharmacy inspectors at state levels to curb the practice of dispensing medicines by unqualified persons at retail counters is a laudable step. The Pharmacy Act empowers the state pharmacy councils with the sanction from the state governments to appoint pharmacy inspectors having prescribed qualifications. The Act also authorizes the inspectors to inspect premises where drugs are dispensed, to enquire whether persons engaged in dispensing are qualified and to act against any violation of the Act. Although the pharmaceutical industry in India is somewhat adequately regulated to ensure drugs marketed in the country have some minimum quality standards, the regulatory norms on pharmaceutical trade are in a mess. The country has more than 5 lakh retail pharmacies located mostly in urban and semi urban centres. And most of these pharmacies are run without having a pharmacist at the counter. Both the Pharmacy Act and Drugs and Cosmetics Act emphasize the need for presence of a qualified person at the counter while dispensing medicine. But this statutory requirement is more violated than complied with, as most of the medical stores in the country are not owned by pharmacists but by traders.
The usual practice in these establishments is just to display the certificate of a registered pharmacist and employ an unqualified salesman for dispensing drugs. This practice is largely prevalent in India and not in most developed and developing countries. For proper delivery of drugs to patients, advice of a qualified pharmacist is necessary in pharmacy stores. That function cannot be handled by a salesman. The standard argument of the pharmaceutical trade and its association is that a graduate in pharmacy is not available to work as a pharmacist at the retail counter. This is because of the fact that the owners of medical stores do not offer a respectable salary to a registered pharmacist. If one has to run a business establishment he or she has to comply with all the necessary rules and regulations at whatever costs. There should be no compromise on this.
Organized retail chains like Medicine Shoppe, Apollo Pharmacy and few others are already following good pharmacy practices like making available a full time community pharmacist at the counter and keeping all medicines in air-conditioned premises. It is no secret that the absence of pharmacist at the counter leads to serious dispensing errors causing even deaths to the patients. But most of such errors go unreported and ignored by the drug authorities. The initiative made by the Pharmacy Council of India now to appoint Pharmacy Inspectors will go a long way in bringing some accountability at the retail counters. What is important is how effectively this plan of appointing inspectors and conducting inspections will be carried out at the state levels. A lot of support from the state governments will be required for making this attempt of the Pharmacy Council a success.

Sridharan R
Pharmaceutical Consultant
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