The Antigua and Barbuda Pharmacy Council has recommenced some crucial services, including the licensing of pharmacies and pharmaceutical wholesalers, after reaching an agreement with the Health Ministry.
Many of these services were being withheld by the Council for some time, as the body urged the government to address some of the issues adversely affecting its operations. These included a lack of adequate transportation and stationery, along with the absence of an official space from which to operate.
This stalemate, which has been going on since earlier in April, had seen many pharmacies and pharmacists operating without the appropriate licenses, which had largely expired back in May.
However, things are now set to kick back into gear, this according to the President of the Pharmacy Council, Michael Joseph.
“The work for the Pharmacy Council has pretty much resumed. [We] had some dialogue, we’ve outlined solutions [and] a roadmap, even for some of those wholesalers that themselves didn’t have licenses.
“That built-in mechanism that we have where we notify the wholesalers, this is not really a long-term process. So, a wholesaler will have a shipment, they will ask for verification about the process before they ship, and so every time that that wholesaler or that pharmacy had to import, we sort of have to go through that process, which is where the challenge really comes.
“[This], as opposed to if they had a license for a year, those companies [wouldn’t] need to check with us before every shipment.
“So, we’re now going to resume those inspections to ensure those annual licenses are going to be issued,” Joseph revealed during an appearance on Observer AM yesterday.
Joseph also confirmed that plans are being drawn up for the Council to have a physical space from which to work, and for the body to be outfitted with additional staff to help support the work of the Council members.
“There was an identification of a space…I think that the Minister should have been in a position to confirm, hopefully by [Wednesday] of this week, where the space is available.
“Of course, we understand that the utopic needs of the pharmacy are long term, and so what the compromise is, is for the temporary allocation of a space and administrative staff to take some of that workload off of the actual members themselves and transfer it to a secretariat,” he said.
Late last month, the Pharmacy Council had decried the lack of value placed on its work by successive administrations, with Joseph noting then that some major adjustments were required for things to move forward in the best possible manner.
And now, things appear to be on an upward trajectory, with the Council now set to be recognised for its hard work and its importance to the nation.
“Honestly, I must commend the minister. We’ve had quite a bit of dialogue since the issue started and I think it’s opened a doorway for us to serve in a greater advisory role to the minister, relating to pharmaceutical development and challenges.
“And we’ve [also] discussed quite a lot of underground matters and how they need to be addressed, even something as important as legislative reform.
The Antigua and Barbuda Pharmacy Council is responsible for the regulation of nearly 25 pharmacies and 10 pharmaceutical wholesalers across the country.