For the first time in the country, the State Pharmacy Council of Kerala has appointed pharmacy inspectors in all the districts to detect violation of Pharmacy Act by community pharmacies or in-house pharmacies of government and private hospitals. All appointments are on part-time basis.

The Council has selected 14 pharmacists working in the state health department to assign the job of pharmacy inspectors as per Section 26-A of the Pharmacy Act.

On getting no-objection certificates (NOC) from the government , the Council posted the selected pharmacists as pharmacy inspectors, one in each district. They will join on duty from March onwards, said B Rajan, president of the Council.

The Council has given special training to the selected pharmacy inspectors on various provisions in the pharmacy act for its strict enforcement. The health department has sanctioned special leave for six days in one Month to them to carry out the Council’s assignment. For their appointment, the government had given sanction last year. The inspectors will conduct inspections in all the pharmacies including government and private hospital pharmacies.

One of the major duties of the pharmacy inspectors will be to check whether all the pharmacy stores are complying Section 42 of the pharmacy act. Section 42 demands the services of qualified pharmacists always in the medical stores, whether in the hospital pharmacies or in the community pharmacies. Last year, the state government issued a special order in this regard, as per which the certificate displayed in the medical store should be of the same pharmacist who sells the medicines to the public.

Rajan said an honorarium will be paid to the pharmacy inspectors as remuneration of their services. The pharmacy council last year initiated stern actions against two private medical stores for not complying section 42.