Pharmacists up in arms against draft bill

SOME 300 pharmacists yesterday submitted an objection letter – along with almost 8,000 signatures – against the proposed draft bill for medicine at the Public Health Ministry in Nonthaburi.

The group, led by Pharmacy Council president Kitti Pitaknitinan and Provincial Public Health Pharmacy Club president Banjerd Dechasilapachaikul, claimed the new bill had seven key flaws. 

They are:

The medicine categorising would not be of an international standard and the lack of a role distinction for those who prescribe and dispense drugs would lead to no checks. 

Multi-discipline health professionals would be allowed to produce, sell and import medicine without having to ask for permission. 

Non-experts could produce, sell and import drugs.

The registered medicine in Thailand could be renewed withoutreview of formula while health professionals could mix medicines without registering them.

The advertising of all medicines, including a claim to treat serious illness, would be allowed and there would be no control over sales promotional activities. There would be no ban on the production and distribution of set medicines.

There was unfair civil punishment for offences and there was no administrative punishment.

After a two-hour discussion with the group representatives and the Public Health Minister’s adviser, Dr Siriwat Tiptaradol, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) secretary-general Boonchai Somboonsuk said a 25-strong team comprising members of relevant groups would discuss details about the bill including the seven flaws over the coming |fortnight. Kitti said the team would discuss the issue on Monday and Tuesday and again the following Monday and Tuesday.

Boonchai said the findings would be submitted to the public health minister, who would then report the problematic areas to the Council of State within 30 days, especially the issue relating to some medical professionals being allowed to dispense certain medicines and the new medicinal category of particular concern. 

The secretary-general said the new categorisation for drugs, especially the ones that only doctors and pharmacists could dispense, was needed after an Act had been passed to allow others dispense drugs. 

Boonchai said the draft aimed to develop the pharmaceutical system so as to protect the people and support future changes such as any free-trade agreement that tried to expand the drug patent from 20 to 25 years and thereby affected people’s access to medicine. 

Meanwhile, northeastern pharmacists and their allies will gather today at Khon Kaen University to express their objection to the new draft law. The proposed legislation, which has been in the works since 1999 as the pending replacement of the Medicine Act 1967, has been rejected by a network of 19 pharmacist organisations.

In a statement, the network claimed the legislation would damage the country’s pharmaceutical system and harm people, as it would let health professions use registered medicines in mixing their own formulas without asking for FDA approval or revealing the recipe.

The 109-article draft was sent back to FDA last week after the Council of State scrutinised it and the FDA then asked to increase the postponement from 14 to 30 days.

Boonchai had said that all sides would be able to express opinions on the matter, especially their objections, in writing, within the 30-day period so that the draft could be amended. 

After that, he said the draft would be passed on to the Cabinet and then the National Legislative Assembly. 

He said only three articles in the draft law were seriously disputed – the fourth article about medicine production, the 14th article about drug dispensing by pharmacists and the seventh article about the formation of a drug committee that would issue ministerial regulations.

Pharmacist Wilaiwan Sakhonrin of Songkhla Public Health Office said the most problematic part of the draft was health professionals being allowed to mix drug formulas without asking for FDA approval.

Wilaiwan said ingredients of medicine not being printed on the label also went against the consumer protection principle. The advertising of drugs, especially the dangerous ones, could lead to public misunderstanding and unnecessary medicine consumption, she said, adding it seemed the draft was meant to boost pharmaceutical businesses rather than protect consumers.