JUDGEMENT
SHAJI P.CHALY -
(1.)The captioned appeal and the writ petition are materially connected in respect of two orders passed by the Director of Health Services, Thiruvananthapuram dtd. 11/1/2018 and 12/1/2018, whereby it is directed that in a hospital pharmacy, in the absence of a Pharmacist or when the Pharmacist leaves the pharmacy, the Medical Officer may arrange dispensing of drugs under his/her direct supervision. Apparently, the said direction is issued taking into consideration Sec. 42 of the Pharmacy Act, 1948 ('Act, 1948' for brevity).
(2.)The basic contention advanced by the writ petitioners is that in the aforesaid Government Orders, there is no empowerment under Sec. 42 of the Act, 1948 to arrange dispensing of medicine by the doctors, and therefore, the said orders are bad being arbitrary and illegal.
(3.)The learned single Judge, after taking into consideration the facts and figures, held that authorising dispensation of medicines under the direct and personal supervision of registered pharmacists has been removed by way of amendment to the Act, 1948, but that does not mean that the word 'dispense' contained in Sec. 42 of the Act, 1948 is to be construed so narrowly to mean that either the Pharmacist or the Medical Practitioner should deliver the drugs/medicines personally to the patients or to the agents of the patients. It was also held that Sec. 42 of Act, 1948 being only an ongoing provision intended for the safety of patients, having regard to the various developments took place in the field of medicines during the last several decades, it cannot be said that dispensing of medicines which now come in blister packs under the direct supervision of the Medical Officer would contravene Sec. 42 of the Act, 1948 in any manner.
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