Hello,

I would appreciate if somebody could provide me information about the practice of pharmacy in Nepal. I need some realistic/research data and sources. I would appreciate the links.

 

Thanks,

Goodjob

Are you talking about Hospital/Clinical or Industrial Pharmacy Practice? Industrial Pharmacy is really booming, but not clinical one. Only 1-2 hospitals have adopted pharmacy system, although government have already implemented the rule for the hospitals having more than 200 beds. After all, its Nepal!! 

So far as the Industrial sector is concerned, there are about 40 pharmaceutical companies among which about 10 are certified with WHO-GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) and 2 are ISO 9001 & 14001 certified.

However, its still not clear what kind of data you need, man?

 

I was talking about retail pharmacy. I heard that you can get antibiotics and some narcotics even without a prescription. Is it legally allowed ? Are there any laws like pharmacy practice laws ? Can you cite your sources pls ?

google will help... use it wisely.

its not only nepal but in all developing countries... from africa to asia... , you dont need prescription to buy antibiotics...  about narcotics.. it depends on the comfort level of the druggist.. 

people might use narcotics to commit suicide.. and these druggists obviously dont want to be in trouble.. otherwise to answer your question.. no you dont need prescription for both.

on top of it, you can scan and print any doctor's letter pad and write whatever you want... lol.. its that simple..  after pharmcy fill the presctiption... they dont return the prescription back to pt. (patient).. here in usa.   

but in nepal.. pharmacy do not keep the prescriptions after they fill it.. they will return it back to pt. so that one person can get this prescription filled multiple times in different pharamcies.... lol..  i love it.

and if you are thinking about the status of pharmacy law in nepal.. then.. its not worth thinking right now... nepal does not have any law and order anymore.... maoist can kill people.. janmukti morch can kill anyone.. jttm can kill anyone...  and you are thinking about people being killed becoz of overdose of medication...  no body keeps record of it..  and pharmacy practice law is in very primitive phase...  let alone this pharmacy law, the whole legal system is in vulnerable condition....   

anyway its a good topic to write paper.. these khaire will be socked to know... lol...  but not one single person who has lived in any of the developing countries will be surprised.. and never bother to think on it.....  

first make people safe from banduk and baarud.. and then think about pills.

by the way there is difference between hospital pharmacy and clinical pharmacy...  few hospital might have pharmacy in the hospital.. but they dont practice clinical pharmacy there... clinical pharamcy is r/t monitoring therapeutic effects of medications.. and making certain protocol for hospital's formulary...   and doing clinical researches to take advantage of the therapeutic effects of medication... 

the only thing pharmacists do in nepal is to sell drugs... exactly the same model as liquor shop.. you pay.. and buy stuffs.. or exactly the cashier of a gas station.. lol...

another dilemma is that few years back they change the law that every pharmacy must have one assigned pharmacist to register their pharmacy to the govt.  and see what happened. one pharmacist is linked to more than 50  stores in ktm.. this pharmacist gets some money for signing some paperwork which is required to open new pharmacy... and finally, this pharmacist will forget that for how many pharmacies he has signed the paper for being their assigned pharmacist... lol...  

the pharmacy union is too timid in nepal to negotiate anything with the govt...  and this is obvious coz these people dont know how to do chakka jam.. lol...   or honestly there is no significant roles that these pharmacists are playing in nepal...  they seem to be overflowing water of the river... 

their roles must be more specific than just selling medication like a cashier of a gas station....   until then.. i dont see any hope...   

i apologize for being rough on pharmacists in nepal if anybody gets hurt.

Coffee333, What is the basis of your saying? I disagree!!!! ...especially for some of the issues you raised herein like: 

"the only thing pharmacists do in nepal is to sell drugs... exactly the same model as liquor shop.. you pay.. and buy stuffs.. or exactly the cashier of a gas station.. lol..."        Nepalese Pharmacist are more actively involved as in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing (approz. 40 pharmaceutical comapanies), Government officials, NGOs/INGOs, Community Pharmacy, and rarely in Clinical/Hospital and Retail Pharmacy. They are not selling drugs like as liquor shop or gas station as coffeee said. A very few are atively selling drugs in Retail Pharmacy. Whereever they work, they have tried to implement the ethics of Retail Pharmacy and made a revolution. Unfortunately it is rarely done. Must say....its in growing phase in Nepal.  

"another dilemma is that few years back they change the law that every pharmacy must have one assigned pharmacist to register their pharmacy to the govt.  and see what happened. one pharmacist is linked to more than 50  stores in ktm.. this pharmacist gets some money for signing some paperwork which is required to open new pharmacy... and finally, this pharmacist will forget that for how many pharmacies he has signed the paper for being their assigned pharmacist... lol... "          Any registered Pharmacist (Nepal Pharmacy Council -NPC Registration) in Nepal can't sign more than one Pharmacy. NPC & DDA (Dept of Drug Administration) has all records. So Cofeee's guff seems baseless!

However I agree your concern about - antibiotics misuse in Nepal. Its bitter truth, though. The population of Pharmacists (Graduate and Certificate Level) are very few in comparision to other profession. Hence, it is worthless to assume complete revolution in this sector. Shortage of manpower is one of the problem. Especially these years, brain-drain is one of the most deadly factors for the reason. There are some organizations like GPAN (Graduate Pharmacist Association Nepal), NPA (Nepal Pharmaceutical Association), PHON (Pharmaceutical Horizon of Nepal), Forum for Pharmacy, Kathmandu Univeristy (FoP), etc. who have been actively involved in the betterment of whole Phamacy Profession in Nepal! 

 

Also like to add...... There are some active regualatory bodies and regulations/acts in Nepal, like

DDA (Dept of Drug Administration), NPC (Nepal Pharmacy Council), Nepal Pharmacy Act 2057,  rug Abuse Control Act., 2033 B.S. (1976), Drug Act & Regulation, 2035 B.S. (1978), Ayurvedic Medicine Council Act, 2047 B.S., National Drug Policy (1995), etc. 
     DDA offcial website: http://www.dda.gov.np/

 

C.bulls!

"another dilemma is that few years back they change the law that every pharmacy must have one assigned pharmacist to register their pharmacy to the govt.  and see what happened. one pharmacist is linked to more than 50  stores in ktm.. this pharmacist gets some money for signing some paperwork which is required to open new pharmacy... and finally, this pharmacist will forget that for how many pharmacies he has signed the paper for being their assigned pharmacist... lol... "          Any registered Pharmacist (Nepal Pharmacy Council -NPC Registration) in Nepal can't sign more than one Pharmacy. NPC & DDA (Dept of Drug Administration) has all records. So Cofeee's guff seems baseless!

-- it was the case few years back.. that might be the reason they changed it later.. It was a nice move.. and thanx for letting me know.  By the way as you mentioned, no pharmacists in nepal can sign for more than one pharmacy... just wondering few years back how did they handle it when we didn't have many pharmacists? Were the pharmacists still supposed to sign for just one store?? What is the ratio of drug stores and pharmacists 5 years back and now?? If most of the pharmacists are working in industries how can they maintain 1:1 ratio of one store to one pharmacist? But i do agree it was a positive move to limit the number of stores that a pharmacist could sign.

--- i had heard of few of those organizations...  i would also appreciate if you inform me about what is the significant impact they have made with respect to pharmacy practice in nepal till date?

--- indutrial pharmacy is booming. People define words differently..  booming with respect to what? its good to see number of pharmaceutical indutry increasing in nepal? What kind of revenues are they bringing in and what are they giving back to people?  

My point is that... to  ensure the better future of pharmacists.. we have to make sure the roles of pharmacist in nepal. pharmacists are health care professionals like doctors or nurses or any other professionals r/t health care. Its good to know that pharmacist are working more in industry.. but if the same work can be done by a chemist then the pharmacists' roles can not be considered distinct.  if they are doing drug research, then a pharmacologist can do it. The role is still not distinct. We all know the role of doctor.. nurses... lab tech.. pathologists... or blah blah.. but when it comes to pharmacists... people suddenly become confused coz they dont know the obvious role of pharmacists and their impact in the health care system.

NPC and DDA are tracking all pharmacists to check the number of a pharmacies a pharmacist has signed for.. but there is no responsible body to track people using prescription drugs like antibiotics and more importantly narcotics.

website of uspharmacy says " 

Thank you for the website... i know about those regulating bodies.. and also know how they function... 

sorry last post came in a messy shape..  hope its still readable.

Coffee333, appreciated that you have shown such a concern! But I dont have much time to explain all those, but still your points are baseless, I guarantee. Being a Registered Pharmacist of Nepal and intensely related with this profession for more than 11 years, I can say most of your points are not true! beleive me or not!

It would be appreciatd if you mail me or call me; will discuss more in detail and come up with the facts. Dont make other confused! Anyway thanks coffee and goodjob for posting the issue.

Chicago bull and coffee333,

I appreciate your efforts on finding out the answers to my question and I believe only through discussion, we can draw some concrete conclusions and I appreciate your help in driving this discussion.

Coffee333,

Just my thoughts on your phrase: "and if you are thinking about the status of pharmacy law in nepal.. then.. its not worth thinking right now":

I am trying to do some research in Pharmacy Practice in Nepal not in ballots and bullets right now. Every people have their own interest at a particular time and my interest at this particular time is to do some research in Practice of pharmacy in Nepal. I don't think anybody will think every day and every time about how many people are dying because of lawlessness in Nepal. I can understand your emotions and emotions of Nepalese at this particular point of time but you gotta do what you gotta do.

But, hey Coffee333 I think you have made some good points and from your reply I could guess that you have lots of knowledge on pharmacy practice in Nepal. I would still appreciate your thoughts in this regard.

Thanks a lot... I appreciate participation from other people as well, if anybody is willing to.

Thanks,

Goodjob

Chicago bull

I appreciate your valuable time. While I know you don't have much time to explain, it would be great to let everybody know if you have some experience/examples. If you think Coffee333's points are baseless, could you please provide let us know how are they baseless. I would appreciate it. Any legal actions taken in the past? any experience of yours ? Are you currently working as a pharmacist in Nepal ?

 

Coffee333,

Every profession has their own respect in their own place. It is in very early stage in Nepal and I know it is growing. Even in democratic system, people who gets the highest vote count will win the election. And in case of Nepal you shouldn't expect pharmacy practice to boom in one night since they are professions with minorities and you have yourself explained about Nepal's situation right now.

Thanks,

Goodjob

Thanks C. bulls and goodjob for the discussion.

C.bulls! you are way senior and experienced... ..i am glad i brought my questions to someone who can answer it. Just take your time.. and clarify it whenever you have time...

goodjob! i agree that every profession has its own value. My whole point of discussion is to make clear about pharmacists' roles in Nepal.. or create an environment where the knowledge of pharmacists can be utilized extensively to alleviate health condition of nepalese population. That would help to gain more respect for this profession in people's eyes.. and more people will be informed about this profession and pharmacists's roles in their own health. That is the only way we can attract more students to this profession. To create more jobs in the market... in some extent there has be to distinct roles. In USA or UK, pharmacists have distincts roles.. and pharmacists are respected in those countries and they are able to create more jobs every year for pharmacists.

 

 

goodjobs.. one more thing.. in other countries (usa or uk), pharamcists works along with other health care professionals.. and all of them have their distinct roles. But, even in those countries.. pharmacists are still weaker than nurses and doctors when it comes to lobbying with govt. representatives. There is also competiton among the health care workers with pharmacists bcoz some of their roles overlaps with pharmacists. I would say becoz of the differentiation in the roles of the pharmacists, all health care workers show solidarity when it comes to protecting other professions in the health care system.. and they appreciate pharmacists unique roles.. which can not be perfomed by either doctor or nurses or any other health care professionals. In nepal, we are yet to see that level of solidarity among health care professionals when it comes to creating an environment so that pharmacists' knowledege and expertise can be utilized to the maximum level or protecting pharmacists roles in the health care settings.

good night you all.. my cooking time starts now.. lol

Very interesting read...or shall I say healthy discussion on the pharamaceutical company, the profession once I belonged to.

Chicago-Bull,

Do I know you? Your thoughts sound very familiar. Of course, you are way senior than me in the profession. I worked in the feild for about 3 yrs, not as a pharamcist but very closely related. I would love to talk to you and learn more from you about the regulations that controls the drug distribution and sale.

As far as my experience goes, other than the major drug stores near by the hospitals or the drug store within the hospital, virtually  no regulation exits in the druggist/chemist store. I have seen the shopkeeper( I am referring to the one who sells drugs and technically are pharamacist), sell medications without prescriptions. Most of the times, due to socio-economic status, people just ask the drug seller the drug they wanted.....by that the symptoms they have, and the druggist sale the medication without any prescrition. Lots of cough-syrups which has high percent of codine and the sedatives are sold without prescriptions.

On the other had, drugs are substitued as far as brand goes. There is always competition between the pharmaceutical companys for thier sales, and the drug seller is not reluctant to substitute the prescribed medicine with generic brand as they would get more bonus from the pharmaceutical company.

Unhealthy competition between the pharmaceutical companies was sky-rocketing in Nepal couple years(four) back and I can imagine it might have been worse now.

Goodjob,

Above information is soley based on my personal experience. If  you want any specific questions anwered, I would be more than happy to hep you out.

My dad has been working in the pharmaceutical industry as a consultant for over 20 years and I have seen second hand how the industry has grown in Nepal. While once pharmaceutical companies were being lax having sort of a monopoly, things have changed now. Everyone seems to be trying for WHO standards, and are putting in huge investments. New companies are coming up and are unafraid to make investments because there is immense opportunity in this area, and if done the right way, there is enough to be made for everyone!

Cannabis,

Although you have posted your own experience, do you happen to know any source for pharmacy practice in Nepal ?

Thanks,

Good job

Goodjob,

Nope, I am not aware of any source in specific that would do research/study for "Pharmacy practice in Nepal". I am sure you are looking for some credible source, but I don't know of any. It was about 5yrs ago when I belonged to this profession somehow. There was a campus in Jawalkhel affiliated  under Purbanchal unversity and their program specilies in Hospital Management. If I remember correct, they have some coursework on Pharmacy practice (I doubted if its in context of Nepal). You can definately google them and contact them in person.

Sorry, I can't be of much help.

Cannabis

Goodjob!

I just came across few nepali names related to pharmacy profession. Dr. Shyam Karki is the professor in the school of pharmacy in Maryland. You can google about his.. get his number or email.. and call him or email him. I think he will be the right person to answer most of your questions.

goodjob, did you find any citable articles in this topic ? would you share your findings?

Hello everyone

I am a middle aged man, and I read all the comments from above..and found it very interesting.

However, I have a different interest. I want to start a small pharmacy shop in Biratnagar. I can invest some money but i do not have any experiences dealing with the medicines.

So i want to hire a pharmacist. Do I need a pharmacist with a bachelor degree or diploma degree for my pharmacy? And, what are the criteria to be fulfilled to start a small retail pharmacy.

Any suggestions on this topic would be highly appreciated.

Thank you