MoHP monitors around 101 pharmacies in a single day
KATHMANDU, July 25: Government authorities have found extreme negligence in matters related to human health while monitoring pharmacies in the valley on Monday.
The monitoring teams found that some pharmacies in Kathmandu and Lalitpur have been operating with the certificates of licensed pharmacists taken on rent. According to the members of the monitoring teams deployed in the valley, some pharmacies were not registered at all.
Due to the anomalies of the pharmacies operating in the valley, the government decided to seal 10 of them for not meeting the required standard for operation.
3,000 pharmacies operating illegally across the country: DDA
Such a problematic scenario in the capital poses serious questions about the state of the pharmacies operating in other parts of the country.
The monitoring teams, composed of representatives from the Ministry of Health and Population, Department of Drug Administration and Department of Health Services, sealed the illegally operating pharmacies in the course of monitoring on Monday. The teams monitored 110 pharmacies in three districts of the valley. About 20 teams were deployed in three districts for monitoring.
Minister for Health and Population Mohan Bahadur Basnet, Director General of Department of Drug Administration(DDA) Narayan Dhakal were also involved in the monitoring. Their teams monitored pharmacies in the Lalitpur area.
According to the coordinator of the monitoring team, it was found that pharmacy operators were operating the pharmacies with the certificate of other licensed pharmacists.
The teams also found that the drugs which were not registered with the DDA and drugs related to mental illness were being sold and distributed by the pharmacies without obtaining permission while date-expired drugs were kept together with other drugs for sale.
Hemant Ojha, who was involved in the monitoring, said that they sealed the pharmacies after finding out during the inspection that they were operating without registration. Another team coordinator, Sagar Dahal, said that two unregistered drug shops were found in Gokarneshwar.
Minister Basnet directed the DDA to widen the monitoring of pharmacies across the country after complaints were received that pharmacies were operating by renting a licensed pharmacist's certificate and making another person an employee, not fulfilling the standards set by the DDA and operating the pharmacy even without a permit.
Narayan Dhakal, director general of the DDA, said that the comprehensive monitoring conducted on Monday has opened everyone's eyes and said that the monitoring tasks will be continued rigorously in the future as well. Health and Population Minister Basnet instructed Director General Dhakal to continue the monitoring as it was found that a large number of pharmacies in the valley were operating against the rules.
Minister Basnet also advised Dhakal to take immediate action against pharmacies that play with people's health and to encourage legally well-organized pharmacies to continue good services by providing letters of appreciation. Minister Basnet directed the director general of the Department of Health Services to send the interns willing to work in pharmacies to the Department of Medicine to fill the shortage of manpower in the DDA.
Secretary at the Ministry of Health and Population, Roshan Pokharel said that monitoring is being done all over the country and it will bring good results.
