The Pharmacy Board is again embroiled in controversy.
Two members of the Council of the Pharmacy Council have written to Health Minister Dr Fuad Khan complaining about a meeting on May 8, and the actions of President Andrew Rahaman.
Among their complaints is that he appointed himself to do inspections of pharmacies, and was circumventing the law to accommodate “certain applications”. Questions were raised about the criteria used to grant licences.
Contacted yesterday, Khan said he would invite the whole Council to a meeting to get information and find out what was happening. The Council currently comprises five elected members and two members appointed by the Health Ministry and two others from the Medical Board of TT.
According to the report by members of the Council, Ameena Ali and Clinton Sahadeo, Rahaman appointed himself to conduct investigations of the opening of new pharmacies “despite other elected members living in the areas. This we objected to, on the grounds that it was imprudent for the President to conduct inspections.” It was common practice to have two persons do inspections for transparency, accountability, and in order to prevent any notion of corruption.
Objections were raised against Rahaman passing applications which contained “flaws”.
Rahaman was asked about the imposition of internship for selected government pharmacists to manage private pharmacies, and responded that this was a Council decision.
The Council was reminded of regulations in Sections 26 (1) of the Pharmacy Board Act and Section 21 (1) which state the requirements when applying for pharmacy licences.
A check of the section stated that “no person shall keep or permit to be kept or managed any pharmacy unless it is under the immediate supervision and control of a responsible pharmacist, who shall be carrying out the professional operations of the pharmacy.”Another for the appointees was, companies being given the same licences as sole ownership/partnership, contrary to Section 27 (3) of the Act. Rahaman reportedly said this was “not important”.
This section of the Act states, “every licence for a pharmacy owned by a company shall be issued in the name of the pharmacist who has the management and control of the pharmacy.” Rahaman’s use of his position to make decisions for the “executive” was criticised. “We put it to the Council that if the President is granted all responsibilities of the Council then there was no need for the Act which expressly defined the constitution and role of members,” Ali and Sahadeo said.
In response to the issues highlighted, Rahaman said he undertook to do inspections because he was the only Council member with the time to do this, and the Council has made it a priority to issue licences in a timely manner. Rahaman said he has been having problems convening a meeting to grant licences because of problems with attendance. A meeting scheduled for last Wednesday did not take place due to lack of a quorum, which required five Council members, including one appointee of the Medical Board or Health Ministry.
Rahaman said calls were made to remind people of the meeting since the Council’s meeting was scheduled for the second Wednesday of every month. However, some members could not be reached despite repeated telephone calls.
