As a part of its exercise to track down pharmacists for professional misconduct, Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) has cancelled the registrations of 10 pharmacists from across the state.
While cancellations done in five of the cases relate to misrepresentation of facts by the pharmacists, three relate to dual registrations and one on account of non-renewal by a pharmacist who has gone abroad.
The cancellations also includes an offence by a doctor who had rented out his diploma in pharmacy certificate to a medical store and was also running his clinic simultaneously in violation of Section 36 under the Pharmacy Act. Subject to the provisions of this section, the Executive Committee may order that the name of a registered pharmacist shall be removed from the register, where it is satisfied, after giving him a reasonable opportunity of being heard and after such further inquiry, if any, as it may think fit to make.
Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has till date referred 212 such cases of professional misconduct of pharmacists to the Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) for appropriate action. MSPC is a quasi-judicial body which can act against pharmacists by way of either issuing warning letters or cancelling their registrations.
While state FDA says that most of the cases referred for MSPC action this year relate to absence of pharmacists at the drug stores, MSPC on the other hand has the challenge of timely and judicious disposal of such cases notwithstanding the fact that such cases have a bearing on the patient safety and need to be severely dealt with.
According to an MSPC official, mere absence of a pharmacist during an FDA inspection does not amount to a professional misconduct. Gravity of the case handled by MSPC depends on the severity of charges based on the findings that absence was due to a pharmacist doing dual employment, in an incident of he being found forging bills and in an event of prescription medicines sold without a bill in his/her absence. Each case takes almost a year to get resolved by the state council which calls the aggrieved party for hearing and written submission at the full council meeting held twice a year.
As per sources, 81 cases were referred between 2005 and 2010 by the state FDA. Latest records of period ranging from January 2013 to May 2014 revealed that over 200 cases had been referred by the state FDA for MSPC's action.