Regulating pharmacies

Almost every effort at reform in this country runs into resistance by entrenched interests. The latest case in point is the Punjab government's initiative to enforce minimum service delivery standards on pharmacies and medical stores. Soon after the 18th Amendment transferred health to the provinces, as part of its plan to regulate the sector's affairs, the Punjab Healthcare Commission made it mandatory for all drug stores to acquire the services of licensed pharmacists to provide professional assistance to people buying prescription medicines, and check misuse of drugs for recreational purposes. They were instructed to display pharmacists' licences along with photographs at a prominent place for monitoring by the concerned authorities. So far, there is little success. According to a report in this paper, around 90 percent of the medial stores in the province have failed to fulfil that obligation. To hoodwink the regulator, most of them have been using licence certificates rented out by a single licensee to several drug retailers.
Commendably for it, the Punjab Drug Authority remains determined to ensure the presence of licensed pharmacists in person at all medical stores, about 20,000 in number, and also that their certificates displayed in stores are verified by the Pharmacy Council to guarantee genuineness. In pursuance of orders of the Drug Court in Lahore to seal all chemist shops running without a qualified pharmacist, the Authority has started a crackdown on violators. Some 200 drug stores have been sealed. It is worthwhile to note that these people have had nearly three years to adopt the required measure. Yet they have not only failed to do that they are threatening to fight back by resorting to an indefinite shutter-down strike beginning April 25 in protest against alleged 'small offences.' A similar situation arose a year ago when the Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association had observed a token strike demanding amendments to the Drug Act, 1976, though deciding against an indefinite shutter-down after the provincial minister for primary and secondary health constituted a committee to resolve the issue. As the current situation shows, the matter remains unsettled.
The agitators make their case advancing two untenable arguments. One is that instead of sealing the medical stores for minor 'negligence' or 'mistake' action should be taken for specific violation. The problem is that a common mistake is not only sale of non-prescribed tranquillizers and other harmful substances to young addicts but also substandard and spurious drugs. Hence the government rightly insists it must protect public health through regulatory measures. Second, as the Rawalpindi chapter president of Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association, Malik Arshad Awan, complained the Punjab government's campaign against pharmacists has badly affected their business abroad. There are two simple responses to that argument. One, business reputations are built on clean practices, which the regulatory authority is trying to establish. Second, the government cannot be expected to knowingly allow unscrupulous elements among law observing players in the field to put human lives in danger. It can only be hoped things will not take an ugly turn, and the issue will be resolved in favour of greater public interest.