KATHMANDU, Aug 20: In a bid to curb the practice of operating pharmacy using chartered certificates, the Department of Drug Administration (DDA) has decided to upload the certificates of all pharmacy operators to its website. The DDA, which is the national drug market regulator, took the decision after it found that a huge number of pharmacies across the country were using certificates of pharmacy graduates not associated with the business.
Many pharmacies across the country are run by people with little or no background knowledge in medicine. To discourage such practice, the DDA made it mandatory for people running dispensaries to have a formal degree. The rule prompted many pharmacy operators to seek out people with degree in pharmacy so that they could rent their certificate to ensure compliance.
"Even our own employees have been found leasing certificates to pharmacies," said Bal Krishna Khakurel, director general of DDA. "Such trend compromises our goal behind introducing the rule, which is to stop unscrupulous peoples from selling sensitive drugs."
He admitted that a huge number of pharmacies across the country have been operating using rented certificates to escape action.
According to DG Khakurel, both pharmacy operators and those renting out their certificates will be dissuaded once the DDA uploads the certificates to its website making it possible for everyone to find out the true identity of the pharmacy operator.
DG Khakurel said that DDA will blacklist pharmacies that are operating using rented certificates. The DDA's drug inspectors have found that most of the pharmacy graduates have been found lending their certificates to dispensaries for a certain monthly fee.
"Even people with pharmacy degrees who are in America and Australia and other countries are found renting their certificates, and their relatives have been collecting monthly rent here," added Khakurel.
The DDA said that average rate being charged by those lending certificates ranges from Rs 8,000 to 10,000 per month.
Meanwhile, the DDA said that it has published the list of the medicines with their fixed prices on its website. The DDA had recently fixed the prices of 96 essential medicines available in the market.
DG Khakurel informed that it will soon publish the cost of all medicines available in the market on its website.
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