The three district pharmacy officers who were chosen will soon receive appointment orders from the Nagaland State Pharmacy Council (NSPC) appointing them as pharmacy inspectors. Three inspectors will first be hired to inspect pharmacies for compliance with the Pharmaceutical Act of 1948. According to Khele Thorie, the council’s registrar, all selection procedures have been finished, and the office is currently distributing appointment orders.
One of the first states in India to contemplate implementing the Pharmaceutical Practice Regulations (PPR) 2015 received state government approval to do so in 2019. This state was Nagaland. The implementation process, however, was halted by the Covid-19 outbreak, but the SPC continued to work with the government to obtain a green light. The health department is making every effort to implement the PPR, as the government recently informed it, the registrar said.
“If the rules are put into place, it will make it easier for us to hire pharmacy inspectors. We have already finalised the selection of the inspectors and the specifics will be revealed in a week’s time. The chosen individuals are district pharmacy officers, thus there is an additional fee, according to Thorie. He claimed that since W. H. Patton, the drug controller, and the drug inspectors are members of the pharmacy council, there is very little likelihood that they will oppose. With the approval of the drug control department, pharmacy inspectors are appointed. The registrar responded that there are only 1200 licenced pharmacists in Nagaland when questioned about this.
Later, while speaking with W H Patton, the SLA, and DC, he revealed that there are fewer than 500 pharmacies in the state since the practise of pharmacy is only beginning to take off. He claimed that one of the factors contributing to the scarcity of pharmacists is the absence of a pharmacy school. Yet, the administration is making every effort to keep medicines accessible in every part of the state. Patton responded that not all medical shops currently employ certified pharmacists in response to another question concerning whether or not registered pharmacists operate all of the pharmacies.
