Agra: Licences of 54 chemist shops without pharmacist cancelled

Agra: District drug administration has cancelled licences of 54 chemist shops for operating without a pharmacist. The owners of these shops were warned earlier but they did not pay any heed to it. Following this, the department has cancelled the licences of these shops. Drug administration officials have warned that an FIR would be registered in case any of the shops is found operating.

There are 2,848 chemist shops registered with the drug department in Agra district. Out of these, licences of 70 chemist shops have not been renewed so far for not having a pharmacist. The department had issued notices to all these shops for appointing a pharmacist by June 30. However, 54 of the chemist shops, a majority of them operating in the rural areas, did not respond to the notices after which their licences were cancelled. Now, the online portal of the drug administration has a list of 2,794 registered chemist shops in the district.

Drug inspector Brajesh Yadav said, “The online registration system has significantly helped in checking chemist shops operating without pharmacist. Now, one pharmacist cannot associate with several chemist shops. During the annual licence renewal process, 54 shops were identified as not having a permanent pharmacist. They failed to appoint a pharmacist in the given time period. Now, their licences stand cancelled. In case found operating, an FIR will be registered against them.”

Like hospitals, applications for running a chemist shop are accepted online. Drug administration online portal for licensing requires name of pharmacist along with details such as academic certificates and Aadhaar number. Through this, it become necessary for chemist shop owner to appoint a full time pharmacist. The online software rejects an application on repetition of details of a pharmacist. Till February 2018, the entire process was manual. Several chemist shops used to share a single pharmacist.