Irish republic leads in regulation shake-up
A radical shake-up of the pharmacy sector in the Irish Republic is proposed in a new bill that is expected to become law by Easter.
Under the legislation, introduced by health minister Mary Harney, the
21-member council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland that will
regulate the Republic’s 3,800 pharmacists will comprise nine pharmacists
and 12 lay members.
According to the minister, that will make Ireland the first country to
have a lay majority on such a body.
The council’s mandate, she said, would be to ensure that pharmacy
outlets “adhere to adequate standards” and that their owners
possess adequate linguistic and forensic skills. Pharmacists found guilty
of bad practices could be struck off the register and there was provision
for fines of over e300,000 and prison terms where offences endangered
patient safety.
The bill also abolishes a 130-year-old restriction that prevents pharmacists
who graduate outside the country from owning, operating or supervising
an Irish business.
Ms Harney promised that during its passage through the Irish parliament,
the bill would be amended to deal with conflict-of-interest issues of
concern to the profession, such as financial links between doctors prescribing
medicines and the pharmacies that dispense them. On the removal of the
130-year ban, she said that many of those being excluded from owning
or running a business were Irish graduates who had to qualify abroad
because of the restricted number of Irish college places available, and
she added: “They are being totally discriminated against.”
The president of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland, Ronan Quirke,
welcomed the new fitness-to-practise safeguards. “We have had incidents
in the past of pharmacists who have been struck off registers abroad
but who have continued to practise in Ireland,” he said.
The bill was also welcomed by the Irish Pharmaceutical Union, the representative
body of 1,600 community pharmacists. Its vice-president, Liz Hoctor,
while supporting the removal of the business ban on those who graduate
abroad, urged the minister to insist on a similar “right of establishment” for
Irish pharmacists in other EU countries.
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