In order to seek clarity on cases of professional misconduct by pharmacists for timely action, Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) has referred back over 20 such cases to Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) due to lack of documents required as evidence to back council proceedings on matters of non-compliance.

MSPC is a quasi-judicial body which takes action against errant pharmacists who fail on non -compliance to Pharmacy Act, 1948 can face action ranging issuance of warning letters to canceling registrations. According to an MSPC official, referral of cases of professional misconduct from FDA has to be backed by circumstantial evidence which could prove that the absence in the retail drug store was due to a pharmacist doing dual employment, in an incident of he being found forging bills and in an event of prescription medicines or Schedule H drugs sold without a bill in his/her absence.

Maharashtra FDA has till date referred over 200 such cases of professional misconduct of pharmacists to MSPC for appropriate action. State FDA officials maintains that most of the cases referred for MSPC action relate to the absence of pharmacists at drug stores across the state.

Such kind of cases take 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 in February and September. MSPC has till date canceled the registrations of 10 such pharmacists referred by FDA for professional misconduct 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 relates to a pharmacist who has shifted base overseas.

As per the latest MSPC records, 81 cases were referred between 2005 and 2010 by the state FDA. Official records of period ranging from January 2013 to May 2014 revealed that the state FDA has also been stringent on its enforcement related to professional misconduct and filed FIRs on the same across the state.