Health Ministry: Last chance to pay pharmacist fees on Monday

The day after it was reported that the certificates of pharmacists expired on January 14, the Ministry of Health announced that pharmacists have until today (January 16) to pay the necessary fees to renew their certificates.

On Saturday the Trinidad and Tobago Chamber of Industry and Commerce issued a media release in which it raised concerns over the ability of the Pharmacy Board to grant certificates and licences to pharmacists and pharmacies.

The chamber in its release raised concerns over how the public would be affected if pharmacists who paid the retention fee of $150 did not receive their certificates by Saturday.

Attorneys representing Health Minister Terrence Deyalsingh said they were prepared to go to the High Court for an injunction to secure compliance by midnight on Saturday.

A media release from the Ministry of Health on Sunday reported that the law stipulated that pharmacists had a deadline of January 15, each year to pay their retention fees to renew practising certificates.

They noted that since January 15 this year fell on a Sunday, pharmacists had until Monday to pay their fees.

It also reported that the Minister of Health Terrence Deyalsingh would begin working towards extending the life of all practising certificates on a temporary basis.

These measures would apply to pharmacists who were holders of practising certificates for January 15, 2022-January 14, 2023 and would be extended to a period adequate to allow consultation with the council of the Pharmacy Board.

The release also noted that those measures might include the introduction of additional regulations to avoid the current difficulties being repeated.

In the release, the ministry said said it had attempted to get the Pharmacy Board's council to comply with the law under the Pharmacy Board Act to issue the renewed practising certificates.

The ministry noted that, up to Sunday, the council had refused to undertake the request.

When contacted on Sunday, president of the Pharmacy Board Dr Andrew Rahaman said he would be prepared to address the issues on Monday.

"I want to call a news conference tomorrow tentatively at 10.30 am, so until then I have no comment."

Later Sunday, a release from the board said the media conference would be at its headquarters at the Professional Centre Building, Wrightson Road Extension, Port of Spain.

Newsday visited several pharmacies in downtown Port of Spain and Maraval for comment but management at all of them declined to speak on the issue.

One pharmacist who asked not to be named said not only were pharmacists cautious to speak, a few might also fear victimisation.

He added that, in addition to the issuance and renewal of certificates, he also hoped  the influx of illegal or unregulated drugs could be dealt with. He described the latter as one of the major challenges affecting the local pharmaceutical industry.

Referring to the seizure of 285 boxes of illegally imported diarrhoea medication, Enterogermina, earlier this month, the pharmacist said he hoped there was more effort directed in clamping down on such practices.

"It's not good enough to say we are standing against the importation of these drugs, we actually need to be more proactive in preventing it."