Eight medical stores face license suspension

KATHMANDU, May 28: The government has suspended operating licenses of eight medical stores in the country for failing to keep official invoices of medicines purchased from distributors. The Department of Drugs Administration, the country´s drug regulatory body, became aware of this malpractice during inspections that it conducted in major districts of the country. [break]



As per the government rule, all medical stores must keep documents that prove medicines being sold from their shops were purchased from authorized distributors. Stores that fail to produce the proof of purchase at the time of inspection are asked to submit a written explanation mentioning the reason. “This is to ensure circulation of genuine medicines and not the fake ones illegally imported into the country,” Prakash Sharma, the DDA´s pharmacy inspector, told Republica.



Initially, the stores, whose operating licenses were suspended by the DDA, were also asked to furnish explanations. “But they disregarded the instruction, as a result of which we had to temporarily close down the shops,” Sharma said. The government can suspend operating license of medical stores for up to six months if they fail to produce official invoice of drugs that they have purchased.



During the inspection of medical dispensaries, the DDA had also found that many were running their shops without taking permission from the government, while others had failed to renew registration certificates. Some of the stores had also failed to keep sales records of medicines that are at risk of being abused and in other cases untrained store assistants were caught selling medicines. As per the government rule, medical stores should be run by trained pharmacists, trained assistant pharmacists or entrepreneurs, who have received formal training from government-recognized institutions.



For failing to abide by the government rules, the DDA has issued written warnings to 36 medical stores and 99 other medical stores were given verbal warnings. “We will resort to harsh measures like suspension of operating licenses if those stores repeat the mistakes,” Sharma said. So far this year, the DDA has inspected around 680 medical shops in 20 districts in the country.



At present, around 15,000 retail medical outlets have registered themselves with the government, of which around 2,500 retail stores are operating in the Kathmandu Valley.

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