Mauritian Pharmacists Call for Licences to Open Drugstores

The Pharmacy Board (PB), a unit attached to the Ministry of Health and Quality of Life has recommended to the Mauritian government that only qualified pharmacists should be allowed to open pharmacies in the island.

Meeting journalists Friday at the MHQL in Port Louis the capital, PB director Dr Ranjiv Sungkur noted that opening a pharmacy has become a very profitable business for those people who can afford it, especially in the countryside.

He added that the initiative of the PB comes at a time when innumerable complaints have been lodged in the wake of the death of many persons who have had injections done in village pharmacies.

The last death, he added, occurred last week when an old lady died following an injection in a pharmacy. The death nearly caused a riot in the village.

Vijay Chummun, president of the Association of Mauritian Pharmacists (AMP), who attended the press meeting, declared that his organization supports the stand of the PB.

Unfortunately, he declared, nothing has been done three years after the PB submitted a file to the ministry explaining why only qualified pharmacists should be allowed to open such a business.

It is high time that government introduces a bill in parliament to legislate on the issuance of permits to open a pharmacy, Chummun said.

Pharmacists will then be compelled to abide by the rules for fear of losing their license. This will also put a break to the practice of selling cough syrups to drug addicts and medical drugs which have passed their sell-by date.

Source African Press Agency

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