Regulate pharmacies
Feb 13, 2005
MOST pharmacies in the country do not have full-time pharmacists behind the counter. An investigation carried out by Sunday Vision reveals that barely ten per cent of the 265 registered by the National Drug Authority have fully qualified pharmacists manning them at any one time.
MOST pharmacies in the country do not have full-time pharmacists behind the counter. An investigation carried out by Sunday Vision reveals that barely ten per cent of the 265 registered by the National Drug Authority have fully qualified pharmacists manning them at any one time.
Several loopholes, including the dispensing of drugs without a doctor’s prescription and the offer of partial doses, were uncovered. How many times have we heard of people feeling feverish and then simply walking to the nearest drug shop and pleading malaria? What they get (wrong doses, outdated drugs, expired medicines, fake prescriptions) has often proved fatal.
Part of the problem stems from there being fewer practitioners than outlets, a situation that the NDA sought to mitigate by authorising one pharmacist to supervise two pharmacies. But while this in itself would be sensible, but only if it were only for the short term, it is not being strictly applied otherwise only one half of pharmacies would not have qualified personnel at any given time.
The other problem is the insatiable profit motive of proprietors. Most of the pharmacies are owned by businesspeople who do not have any medical background.
A deadly cocktail of profit seekers and an ill-advised culture of self-medication has led to the proliferation of ill-equipped, understaffed and unregulated pharmacies.
There are three ways around this. One would be to limit proprietorship and ethical liability to medical practitioners. This proposal is already at Parliament, which should expedite its passing into law. The second would be for the NDA to change its licensing regime from the authorising of practitioners alone to a combination of giving both pharmacy and pharmacist licenses. The other would be in increasing the turnover of pharmacists. Makerere University’s Medical School turns out only about 15 each year. Training facilities are limited, but there is hope yet to increase intake.
In the meantime, stricter supervision, like impromptu checks on who is behind the counter and what is on the shelves, should be increased and the culprits punished.
Ends
Several loopholes, including the dispensing of drugs without a doctor’s prescription and the offer of partial doses, were uncovered. How many times have we heard of people feeling feverish and then simply walking to the nearest drug shop and pleading malaria? What they get (wrong doses, outdated drugs, expired medicines, fake prescriptions) has often proved fatal.
Part of the problem stems from there being fewer practitioners than outlets, a situation that the NDA sought to mitigate by authorising one pharmacist to supervise two pharmacies. But while this in itself would be sensible, but only if it were only for the short term, it is not being strictly applied otherwise only one half of pharmacies would not have qualified personnel at any given time.
The other problem is the insatiable profit motive of proprietors. Most of the pharmacies are owned by businesspeople who do not have any medical background.
A deadly cocktail of profit seekers and an ill-advised culture of self-medication has led to the proliferation of ill-equipped, understaffed and unregulated pharmacies.
There are three ways around this. One would be to limit proprietorship and ethical liability to medical practitioners. This proposal is already at Parliament, which should expedite its passing into law. The second would be for the NDA to change its licensing regime from the authorising of practitioners alone to a combination of giving both pharmacy and pharmacist licenses. The other would be in increasing the turnover of pharmacists. Makerere University’s Medical School turns out only about 15 each year. Training facilities are limited, but there is hope yet to increase intake.
In the meantime, stricter supervision, like impromptu checks on who is behind the counter and what is on the shelves, should be increased and the culprits punished.
Ends