VIJAYAWADA: Irregularities rule the roost in the pharmacies of Krishna district as many of them are functioning without any certified pharmacists.
The drug control authority of Krishna district conducted 3,651 inspections in pharmacies across the district from April 2016 to January 2017.
During the inspection, 565 violations were found and action has been initiated against 555 pharmacies. Drug control authority officials also ordered closure of 12 pharmacies.
Over 2,000 retail pharmacies are functioning in Krishna district.
Majority of the violations take place either by selling of advertised medicines without any prescription or by the absence of certified pharmacist in the medical shops.
In the worse scenario, a few pharmacies are even getting the recognised certificates on rental and keeping them in their stores.
“Hundreds of students pass out each year with a certified pharmacy degree. But majority of the pharmacies in the district are not recruiting any pharmacist, rather they are opting for persons with minimum qualifications. Even though the pharmacies were registered in the name of pharmacists, majority of them are run by their family members or other employees who don’t have any medical background. This will lead to the destruction of the industry,” said M Varaprasad, a pharmacist working at Government General Hospital, Vijayawada.
Likewise, in the case of chain pharmacies, the investor of the franchise need not be a pharmacist.
By having a basic qualification of SSC or Inter, anybody can own a franchise by investing around `6-8 lakh. The firm or the company would provide either a pharmacist or a certificate of a pharmacist to get licence.
“There are over 2,000 retail pharmacies in the district and very few are following norms. For every 10 inspections, almost six of them don’t have a pharmacist. If no certified pharmacist is present in the medical shop at the time of inspection, we will order closure of the shop for two days,” said P Rambabu, Assistant Director of Drug Control Authority, Krishna district.
At the same time, members of the pharmacists’ association are stating that the technology has improved and any person can give a right medicine now.
“It is not necessary to have a certified pharmacist in medical shops these days as majority of the people are going by self medications with the help of some online doctors. So there won’t be any problematic situation in prescribing medicines for small ailments. It’s quite safe with or without the presence of a pharmacist,” said a member of Krishna district pharmacy association on condition of anonymity.