Bihar DCA soon to launch statewide inspection to weed out fake pharmacists from medical shops

Patna, March 30, 2022:

In the wake of increased allegations about unqualified dispensers in medical shops, the Bihar state drugs control administration is planning to launch a statewide inspection process to weed out ‘fake pharmacists’ from the pharmaceutical retail sector and to ensure that the drugs are passing through qualified hands only.

A special team of inspectors will be formed in each district under the ADCs to carry out this inspection process in order to cleanse the retail channel, sources from the department informed Pharmabiz.
 
“In all our monthly meetings, this issue of fake dispensers is discussed and plans are being designed to address it. We are pondering over it for the last one year and soon action will be initiated. Now that the licensing processes are set through online, no fake document can be produced for obtaining licences from the department. We will start our inspection very soon,” said Uday Shankar, assistant drugs controller at Vaishali.
 
Talking to Pharmabiz, he said the department is aware that about 30 per cent of the medical shops are running without registered pharmacists. Although they are old pharmacies, it is a matter of concern. In olden days some applicants might have colluded with officers in the pharmacy council, who might have given them fake certificates to produce for licences even as the pharmacists did not fulfill the necessary parameters. Further, there are shops with licences in the name of expired people also. All such retailers are under scanner and actions will be initiated against them very soon.     
 
Uday Shankar said all over Bihar there are approximately over 50,000 medical shops and once the inspection is completed the government will have records about the total number of pharmacies managed by registered pharmacists. Since the online system started now, the Aadhar number of the pharmacists is linked with the sales licence register at the office. It will help the regulators find out whether the pharmacist is working in another shop simultaneously or renting his certificates to any other shop owners.  
 
There were reports that Bihar was the state where the drugs control administration was very weak in enforcing drug laws and the medical shops were being operated by unskilled persons. Similarly, the wholesale depots were not having the competent persons and, even now, several retail pharmacies are run under wholesale licences. Previously, there was a shortage of pharmacists in Bihar, but the situation has improved much at present because of the emergence of more diploma colleges. However, about 40 per cent of the retail shops are managed by unqualified people and some by people with restricted pharmacy licences (RPL).  
 
The ADC further said the online registration system bars pharmacists from renting their certificates to a second shop. If anybody’s certificate is found in two places, it will be reported to the state pharmacy council for cancellation of its registration.
 
In 2019, when the drug control department started initiating action against medical shops which had no qualified pharmacists, the chemists and druggists association in Bihar conducted a statewide indefinite strike against the government’s move stating that they were given the licences to sell medicine 15 years ago and since then they have been doing the business by investing lakhs of rupees. They wanted the government to provide them short-term training of skill development considering their experience in the field so as to take their business forward. Recently, since the number of diploma holders is increasing, the new generation pharmacies are running with qualified and registered pharmacists. Pharmabiz