Chemists rush to meet good-practice deadline

A drugstore owned by the SGG Pharmacy group has registered with Good Pharmacy Practices standards in HCM City. Pharmacies nationwide are rushing to be registered by January 1. —VNA/VNS Photo The Anh

HA NOI — Pharmacies are racing to register their facilities under Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) standards as the Ministry of Health's January 1 deadline nears.

"The number of GPP applications has increased from one or two per month to nearly 100 in September," said Deputy Director of the Ha Noi Health Department Nguyen Van Yen.

The department said that about 1,100 among the capital's 1,900 pharmacies had received GPP registration, and its representatives worry that their limited resources might be overloaded as more pharmacies rushed to meet to the deadline.

Pharmacist Minh Chinh, who owns Minh Chinh Pharmacy on Quang Trung Street, said she had to invest about US$3,000 into her store in preparation for GPP registration.

Health authorities explain that pharmacies do not want to qualify for GPP because registering will force them to invest more money into their infrastructure and facilities.

An investment of $2,000 or $3,000 is not much for a pharmacy in urban areas, but the amount can be a serious challenge to pharmacies in the countryside. Several pharmacies are waiting to see if the health ministry will postpone their the implementation of their policy.

With nearly 3,700 pharmacies, HCM City is facing similar problems. About 1,000 pharmacies have GPP licences, which accounts for 27 per cent of the city's total. The city's health authorities expect that about 1,500 pharmacies will be able to meet GPP standards by the end of 2010.

"We asked the health ministry and the HCM City's People Committee to extend the GPP deadline for a few months so more pharmacies would be able to register for GPP", said Deputy Director of the HCM City Health Department Pham Khanh Phong Lan.

Lan explained that GPP licence required pharmacies to follow sales and consulting standards that many establishments had little experience in following.

HCM City has 4,586 pharmacists with university degrees. However, most of the graduates have little experience with consulting or sales. The municipal health department plans to strengthen its communication activities concerning GPP and will revoke their licences if the pharmacies violate GPP regulations, according to Lan.

"We also requested that pharmacies without GPP licences be permitted to sell only non-prescription drugs for an extended amount of time", she said.

In 2007, the Ministry of Health stated that pharmacies that failed to meet GPP standards would be closed. The GPP regulation is expected to prevent people from buying unnecessary and self prescribing drugs. — VNS

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Pharmacies slow to achieve good practice standard

As the year-end deadline for application of Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) standards nears, only one-fourth of the pharmacies in the city have achieved it.

For the last three years since the Health Ministry issued its decision (No 11/2007/QD-BYT), HCM City has taken several steps to implement it, but so far just 927 of 3,667 medical establishments have succeeded in applying the GPP standards.

The 927 establishments comprise 91 hospitals and 836 residential pharmacies.

"The main reasons for the slow pace is a shortage of professionals in the health sector to guide, train and conduct checks," said Dr Pham Khanh Phong Lan, deputy director of the municipal Health Department.

She told the Sai Gon Giai Phong (Liberated Sai Gon) newspaper that three years was not long enough to make a full assessment, but the application of GPP had started changing the quality of pharmacy system.

"At first, many people doubted the necessity of the GPP, but after three years, there is an important change in awareness. People accept that it is a must for the industry," she said.

In promoting GPP application, the city's health sector focused first on pharmacies in hospitals and enterprises to ensure quality and price of essential medicines.

At present, the department is focusing on firms engaged in wholesale and retail distribution of drugs.

In 2009, there were 752 pharmacies found violating regulations, including 20 that had the GPP certification.

"GPP is the starting point for managing the pharmacy system and regular investigation is the best way to maintain quality," Lan said.

After January 1, 2011, pharmacies that haven't met GPP requirements would be closed or forced to curtail their operations depending on the final decision from the Health Ministry, she said./.

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