Bihar to implement PPR-2015 after SCs opinion on the issue

Patne, March 23, 2023 :

 

Taking note of the importance of the Pharmacy Practice Regulations (2015) and of the comments made by the Supreme Court of India recently, the Government of Bihar has in principle given approval to the concerned departments to implement the provisions of the PPR in the health sector where medicines are sold, stocked and dispensed.

The decision of the government has come in the wake of the apex court’s opinion that ‘if the Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 are implemented in letter and spirit it will benefit the public’. The state government has already notified its decision to implement the regulations 2015 and the amended regulations 2021.

The apex court was approached by the Bihar state branch of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) through its executive council member Mukesh Kumar.
 
Ravindralal Bandhopadhyaya, secretary of the Bihar IPA said the association had first approached the Patna High Court, but the judgment of the court was not satisfactory with regard to the interest of the pharmacists and other stakeholders of the pharmacy profession. So they approached the Supreme Court which expressed a strong comment through its judgment directing the state government and the Patna High Court on the implementation part of the pharmacy practice regulations. The court expressed the opinion that it would be better if the regulations were implemented in four weeks.

According to Bandhyopadhyaya, following the court order, the state government has issued a circular to all the concerned departments under the health and family welfare department asking to initiate necessary steps to implement the regulations as early as possible. He expressed the hope that the regulations will be in force from the last week of this month as the apex court has said to implement the PPR within four weeks time.
 
However, there is confusion among the pharmacy professional community about the possibility of implementing the regulations in the entire state at present.  Since Bihar lacks a shortage of registered pharmacists it will be difficult for the government to establish the presence of pharmacists in the pharmacies all the time. According to sources, the number of registered pharmacists currently in Bihar is less than 10,000, but the number of medical shops is more than 60,000. Until three years ago, there were only four pharmacy institutions.
 
Prof. Shailendra Kumar, a retired principal of the Government Pharmacy College in Patna, said the number of institutions in the private sector has now increased to 80. But it will take time to increase the number of qualified pharmacists in the state. At present, the number of registered pharmacists is less than the number of the medical shops. PharmaBiz