TEAM HERALD
teamherald@herald-goa.com
PANJIM: The Goa State Pharmacy Council (GSPC) has written to the Directorate of Health Services to ensure all government pharmacists are registered with the GSPC, a mandatory requirement to dispense medicines.
The DHS has circulated the letter among all its hospitals and health centres.
“Some of the pharmacists working under the Directorate of Health Services are not registered with the GSPC while some have registered but have not renewed their registration and thus do not have a valid certificate to practice in the state,” the letter reads. Section 42 (1) of the Pharmacy Act, 1948 mandates that “no person, other than a registered pharmacist, shall compound, prepare, mix or dispense any medicine on the prescription of a medical practitioner.”
“It has come to the notice of the council that in several health centres and DHS dispensaries, the posts of pharmacists have neither been created, nor filled,” the letter sent by Rajendra Naik, Registrar of the Pharmacy Council reads.
“Secondly, in most of the centres, there is only a single pharmacist on duty and when he/she is absent or on leave; medicines are dispensed by unqualified persons. Besides, violating the law this poses a serious health risk to patients,” the letter states.
They have demanded that sufficient posts of pharmacists are created in all health centres and dispensaries in the State, and are filled at the earliest and whenever a pharmacist is absent, he is substituted by pharmacist from another health centre or hospital.
