The chairman of RA, P&C, R&D and diplomatic affair committee of Pakistan Chemists and Druggists Association (PCDA) has urged the government of Punjab to withdraw new drug rules 2007.
In a letter to Governor, Chief Minister and Minister for Health of Punjab, he said that it appears that if the same is implemented or enforced it would cause havoc to the chemist community which is contributing significantly towards making happier and healthier Pakistan with substantial amount of investment and turnover paying heavy taxes to the government exchequer would ultimately be discouraged.
There are almost 50,000 chemists and druggists (wholesalers and retailers) functioning in the Punjab province including pharmacies in the public sector and providing yeoman services to the citizens and with the implementation of the new drug rules they will be forced to close down their business and some 5 lac people will be at risk whose interest of bread and butter are attached and who are dependent on these business.
The association noted that no graduate pharmacists are available to serve at the retail shops in the remote areas where the 'B' category pharmacists are rendering services as provided in the pharmacy amendment act 1973 and the only solution is to nourish and nurture the 'B' category pharmacists and train them appropriately so that they may be able to provide the services at the chemist shop.
The letter has also criticised reduction of validity period of licence from two years to one year under new rules as against association's repeated demand of extending the validity period of licence to five years with routine inspection to close the door of corruption.
The association also criticised ten-time increase in licence fee with no provisions for the wholesale licence, Under new rules the fees of new drug sale licence for the pharmacy is Rs 3000 and medical store is Rs 2000. In Punjab Drug Rules 1988 the fees was Rs 200 for all kinds of drug sale licences. The renewal fee will be Rs 2000 for pharmacy and Rs 1000 for medical stores. The applicant shall pay 50 percent of the fee for change of the qualified person or the duplicate copy of the licence.
Another objection raised in the latter is the covered area of the premises of the pharmacy. Under new rules the pharmacy should not be less than 140 sq ft with minimum breadth of 8 ft in the front and height of 8 ft and in case of medical store 96 sq ft with minimum breadth of 8 feet and height of 8 ft.
The association noted that existing medical stores are working in small places. The rent of bigger shops is quite high and those who will not fulfil the requirement will be deprived of source of income and their families will suffer.
Another objection raised by the association on new drug rules is the provision that a provincial appellate authority has been established and the additional chief secretary of the government shall be the authority for the purpose of hearing the appeals against the order of licensing authority.
The association suggested that a committee comprising representatives from the chemist and druggist association be included along with public representatives for transparency and justice as additional chief secretary alone can not decide the cases. Yet another objection was on replacement of four different drug sale licences (Retail, wholesale and narcotics and pharmacy) with two licences in new rules.