MUMBAI, 26 JAN, 2013: Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner Mahesh Zagde on Friday suspended assistant commissioner V A Jawdekar for dereliction of duty.
Last week, when Zagde sought information on the number of pharmacists in the state, he was told that all 60,000 medical stores have full-time pharmacists to verify prescriptions and issue bills as per provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.
On January 24, when Zagde visited chemists and general stores near Babulnath, he found no pharmacist in one of the shops, but many blank bills signed by him. "When the shop owner admitted that the pharmacist only comes once in a week, I suspended the assistant commissioner in charge of the Babulnath area," Zagde said.
"We have more than 1.5 lakh registered pharmacists in the state. Though it was found that there were no pharmacists in 25,000 of the 60,000 shops in the state, no action was taken owing to the nexus between shop owners and FDA officials," claimed a senior FDA official.
Following incidents of wrong medicines being issued, FDA officials were instructed to check shops and ensure full-time presence of pharmacists. "Within a week, if there is no improvement, more suspensions are on the cards,'' he said.
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