Over 10,000 pharmacists in Sindh - but only 142 in its govt hospitals

According to rules, hospitals with 50 or more beds must have at least one pharmacist

KARACHI: There are over 10,000 registered pharmacists in Sindh - but only 142 pharmacists and 24 drug inspectors are working in the public sector hospitals of Sindh, a health official has revealed to The Express Tribune.

The official said that there were 194 sanctioned positions of pharmacists in various hospitals, while eight positions for drug inspectors are still vacant. According to the formula set by the health department, and reiterated by the Supreme Court, there must be at least one pharmacist in each hospital that has 50 beds or more.

"By a rough estimate, at least 1,200 pharmacists must immediately be appointed," said Ajmal Hudda Bhutto, the president of the Pakistan Pharmacists Association's (PPA) Sindh chapter. "It is a serious concern that our hospitals are being handled by unqualified people but the health officials are not taking it seriously."

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Bhutto said that other provinces were doing better in this regard. "There are over 2,000 pharmacists working in Punjab, while Balochistan has about 5,500 working pharmacists. In Sindh, there are only 142," he disclosed.

Bhutto explained that unqualified staff could not maintain the required temperature and conditions for the storage of medicine, pointing out that medicine was even stored in shipping containers in some government hospitals.

PPA finance secretary Aijaz Ahmed Panhwar said that the other provinces had immediately implemented the Supreme Court's order to draft drug regulations in 2006. "Here, the law was made but there was no implementation," he said. "The government must understand that is the common people who suffer in the end."

In 2007, during the tenure of then Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, 460 posts for pharmacists had been sanctioned, but, said Panhwar, not a single person had been appointed to them as yet.

Muhammad Bux Soomro, a pharmacist, observed that private hospitals implemented the court orders to some extent, but the situation in government hospitals was "pathetic."

A pharmacist can counsel patients and guide them about what medicines they should use, explained Soomro, adding that they also knew how the medicines should be handled.

The PPA has announced protests in various cities, including Karachi, Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas, Nawabshah, Sukkur and Larkana. "We demand that the Sindh government immediately appoint pharmacists as required," said Bhutto.