Chennai : The Nagaland State Pharmacy Council (NSPC) will shortly send appointment orders to the selected three district pharmacy officers by assigning them with the duties of pharmacy inspectors.
In the beginning, three inspectors will be appointed to inspect the pharmacies for enforcement of the Pharmacy Act 1948. All the processes for the selection have been completed and now the office is in the process of sending the appointment orders, says Khele Thorie, the registrar of the council.
Nagaland was one of the first states in India that considered the implementation of the Pharmacy Practice Regulations (PPR) 2015 and the government of the state gave approval to implement the regulations in 2019. But due to the Covid-19 pandemic the implementation process did not happen, but the SPC was taking all the efforts with the government for a green signal further. Recently the government has notified it and the health department is taking all steps to implement the PPR, the registrar informed.
“Once the regulations are implemented it will help us to appoint pharmacy inspectors. We have already completed the selection of the inspectors and the details will be announced in a week’s time. The selected persons are working as district pharmacy officers and this is an additional charge”, said Thorie.
He said since the drug controller W H Patton and the drug inspectors are members to the pharmacy council chances for objection from the drug control officials are very little. The appointment of pharmacy inspectors are carried out with the consent of the drug control department.
When asked about the number of registered pharmacists in Nagaland, the registrar said it is 1200 only.
Later while talking to W H Patton, the SLA and DC, he said the number of pharmacies is less than 500 as the profession of pharmacy practice is gradually emerging in the state. He said lack of a pharmacy institution is also one of the reasons for the shortage of pharmacists. However, the government is taking all the steps to maintain the availability of medicines in the nook and corner of the state.
To another query about whether all the medical shops are run by registered pharmacists, Patton said not all the medical shops have qualified pharmacists at present.
