Stories about ghost pharmacists are not new. It is sad that until today many pharmacy owners keep on operating without a pharmacist on duty.
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| Hope we can say this proudly. |
Based on the following interview, 70% of registered pharmacies in CaMaNaVa are open for business even if the pharmacists are not around. That is not good at all.
There are plenty of reasons why Pharmacists should always be present while the drugstore is in operation:
- Supervising the operation is the major responsibility of a pharmacist.
- Pharmacist should be available at anytime to give advise or to counsel a patient regarding his or her medication treatment.
- Pharmacist must control dispensing especially all drugs that need a doctor's prescription.
- Dispensing errors are likely to happen without the pharmacist.
- As health care provider, your duty is to provide accurate and credible help to the patient or customer.
Why there are ghost pharmacists? That is because pharmacist's salary in the Philippines is ridiculously low. The only thing they can earn more is by allowing pharmacy owners to use their license. How does it work? The pharmacist who signed for this arrangement is not obligated to report everyday for work but will update the books every month or every other week. So when FDA inspector will unexpectedly visit the pharmacy, the books will be okay and the owner can do the alibi that the pharmacist is just absent for the day due to emergency reason blah blah blah.
The only solution I can suggest here is to allow "locum pharmacist" in our practice. I explained about this in my past blog post.
Lending your license is not a clever way to earn extra money because you are just putting your profession at risks and the lives of others in danger too.
Locum Pharmacist
License for Rent: What's the real deal?
I am in favor of the so called "Locum Pharmacist", wherein the services of a pharmacist is no longer restricted. Restricted in a sense that.. he or she can work on other field or same field where the presence of a pharmacist is needed WITHOUT compromising his/her license so as the pharmacist can engage more establishments. Unfortunately our constitution monopolize to engage the license of pharmacist (one time use only). If the congress will pass this Locum pharmacist...everybody will be benefited...people will be oriented/educated the proper mdxn because you can ask the on duty pharmacist in the pharmacy therefore ghost pharmacist will be eliminated... on the part of the pharmacist...additional income will be enjoyed cause he/she can engage many establishments as long as he/she is able.
ReplyDeleteBNB? ridiculous!! To DOH and FDA! you allow the botika ng barangay to carry AMOXICILLIN AND COTRIMOAZOLE how come the ordinary salesclerk understands the mechanism of action of that drugs. If you are saying that the BNB is being supervise the pharmacist...yes they supervise once in a blue moon...but the tindera in the BNB dispense everyday...DOH and FDA where's now the code of health care...DOH and FDA are you controlled by a certain politicians? there's no wrong for cheaper medicines that can be accessed by indigent people but look at the risk of the accessibility of the medicines where ordinary people treated amoxicillin as OTC... na saan ang ngipin ng batas. BNB is so unfair to the legitimate drugstores...