ISLAMABAD: Several medical stores in Islamabad and its suburbs are being operated by non-pharmacists, which is a violation of Islamabad Capital Territory Drug Rules-1989, Pakistan Today learnt on Sunday. “People without the basic knowledge of pharmacy are running most of the drug stores in Islamabad and its suburbs.
This is the violation of ICT Drug Rules-1989, which stipulate that only a Bachelor in Pharmacy degree holder is eligible to run a medical store’,” said a source in the Health Department.
The official said that due the negligence of authorities concerned the people who did not have the basic knowledge of pharmacy were running drug stores. “Mostly B-pharmacists obtain the license for running medical store from the Health Department and sell it to ineligible drug store owners and the owners appoint salesmen, who do not have the degree of pharmacy, on low wages to avoid paying hefty salary to the qualified pharmacists,” he added. He said that it was a difficult task for one drug inspector to monitor 340 drug stores in Islamabad.
Talking to the Pakistan Today, Health Department Islamabad Drug Inspector Shiekh Ansar said that running a drug store without obtaining license was definitely an illegal act and the department was doing its best to curb such practices.
