From Mr U. Shabibi, MRPharmS
SIR,—Mr Modasia (PJ, September 4, p349) seems to have grabbed the wrong end of the stick. A good sustainable business would not bemoan the loss incurred by a few improper endorsements of category D items nor the occasional failure to buy some bargains. It is ridiculously naive to blame the misfortunes of community pharmacies or their viability on locums or locum rates.
Community pharmacy has become a unique profession in terms of moaning and undermining other professional colleagues. We seem to be going in a vicious circle where the Department of Health still finds it easy to exploit a divided profession and pharmacists, in desperation, turn against each other. For the time being, it seems that locum pharmacists are an easy target.
Perhaps Mr Modasia should consider being a locum himself. I am sure he will need the courage to make the decision and he will need a lot of flexibility, adaptability and endurance to sustain a good flow of work. Above all, he would certainly need to get his facts right.
Usama Shabibi
Edgware