...Hospitals bare, says head of Pharmacy Board

...Hospitals bare, says head of Pharmacy Board
Published on Feb 3, 2016, 8:45 pm AST
By Anna Ramdass


The hospitals are bare with no ­basic drugs and soon a bulk of pharmacies will be unable to sell antibiotics and narcotics, says presi­dent of the Pharmacy Board Andrew Rahaman.

In a telephone interview yesterday, Rahaman said not only is there no psychiatric medication, there are no basic drugs for the care of heart patients, such as Plavix, or medication to treat with diabetes and ­hypertension.
“The hospitals are bare, bare, bare. You hardly getting anything. A lot of old people come to me because they feel I can help them out and I try, I take their prescriptions and I go to the health centres and hospitals and there is nothing,” he said.
“Things like Plavix, medication for stomach ulcers, eye drops, diabetic medication, there is none; and I am saying this from personally checking,” he added.

Rahaman said another issue which poses a great threat to the health care of many is the difficult process in obtaining licences from the Drug Inspectorate Division of the Health Ministry for pharmacies to sell antibiotics and narcotics.
He said without this licence, the pharmacy cannot obtain any drugs from the wholesaler.

Rahaman said there are about 200 to 300 pharmacies throughout the country that require licences.
He said the pharmacies go through the Pharmacy Board by paying $175 for the board to submit the application and go through the process with the ministry. He said the same thing occurs with respect to obtaining licence from the Food and Drug Division and the Pesticides and Toxic Chemical Division.
However, he claimed the Drug Inspectorate Division has taken a personal issue with him handling all of the applications.
No easy task

Rahaman said the board agreed that the person who is doing all the work and going through the efforts of preparing the documents and physically going to the ministry should retain the $175 fee.
He said he believes the staff in that division are probably thinking he is making a lot of money from this process, and this should not be so.
Rahaman, an attorney, said this was no easy task and there was ­politics at play creating a problem.
He said this problem occurred under the former administration and he had a public spat with former health minister Dr Fuad Khan and it was now current Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh who tried to mediate.
He said he decided to heed and submit five applications a day. He said he tried to start since last ­November, but was told he could apply until January.

Rahaman said the deadline for the licences is March 31 this year and, to date, 70 per cent of ­applications are outstanding.
He said to make matters worse, the Drug Inspectorate Division ­instructed wholesalers to not give the pharmacies any grace period in ­offering the drugs.
Rahaman claims pharmacies were sent letters from the ­wholesalers stating this.
“We will be in a situation where there will not only be a shortage of medication in the public sector but also in the private sector, as pharmacies will not be able to order life-saving antibiotics and narcotics without licence,” he said.

Rahaman, who has been presi­dent of the Pharmacy Board for the past 12 years, said he hopes the matter could be looked into and ­resolved.