PHARMA LITERATI

The NHS has announced plans to recruit an ‘army’ of experts to tackle over-medication in care homes, with many already in place. The pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will prevent care home residents from being given too many medicines as part of a package of measures to improve older people’s health and care in the NHS Long Term Plan. Currently, care home residents are prescribed an average of seven medicines a day, with many taking 10 or more, costing the NHS an estimated £250 million each year. Due to concerns about the over-medication, the 200 new clinical pharmacists and pharmacy technicians will support care home residents to improve their quality of life, cut hospital stays and reduce over-medication. Chair of RPS in England Sandra Gidley says she is “ delighted that the programme of recruiting pharmacists and pharmacy technicians into care homes across England has proved successful and will continue. ” “RPS has long campaigned for this to happen to imp...

Although the Delhi government has made it mandatory that degree should be the minimum qualification for pharmacist post, all other state governments in the country need to replicate the policy so as to force the central government to bring in a rule in the same direction at the national level, according to the national organizing secretary of All India State Government Pharmacists Association (AISGPA). In a telephonic interview with Pharmabiz, M Vijayalakshmi, a working pharmacist under Karnataka government and the organizing secretary of AISGPA said the professional services of government pharmacists in India need to be streamlined for which there should be some amendments in the policies and recruitment rules (RR). The RR should have a federal structure applicable to all states and union territories uniformly. Similarly, the pattern of promotional cadres for pharmacists should also be same in every state. The national organisation was formed to coordinate all state associatio...

Citing duties of pharmacists as clinical in nature and post of a pharmacist in a hospital a full time one, the Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) pharmacists welfare union has urged the Union Health Ministry to pay them 20% of the basic salary as Non-Practicing Allowance (NPA) as is given to the doctors. In a letter written to the union health secretary, the Chennai branch secretary of the association has stated that as per the Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015, a clinical pharmacist is eligible to draw non-practicing allowance. Besides, since the pharmacist is posted against a full time post, he is entitled to demand the NPA. Thirdly, as a government employee in whose case there is ample scope for private practice, the pharmacist is eligible to draw the allowance. The secretary of the union said as per PPR 2015, a pharmacist can do private practice in the way a medical professional does. But he is serving at a post where it is necessary to prohibit private practice...

The working pharmacists and regulatory officers across the country are planning to bring a proposal before the Drugs Consultative Committee (DCC) of the Union health ministry to make the registered pharmacists the sole authority to keep and sell medicines in the country. Their demand comes in the wake of the ministry's decision to amend D&C Rules to replace 'chemists & druggists' with 'pharmacy' to give retail trade a better professional recognition. They want the government to revoke Schedule K (5) in the D&C Act which mandates doctors to stock and 'supply' medicines to their own patients visiting their clinics or hospitals. The term 'supply' should be removed and the word, 'dispensing' should be inserted in the clause by specifying pharmacist's right to handle medicines even in clinics or hospitals run by medical professionals. In the next DCC meeting, expected to be held in May, the Drugs Controller of Odisha, Ma...