Over 11,000 pharmaceutical technologists have threatened to down tools in protest against new guidelines that would bar them from practising in Level Three to six health facilities. Under the new guidelines adopted by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, only practitioners with degree-level qualifications, will be allowed to administer medicines in the mentioned facilities, while diploma-level holders will manage dispensaries. Kenya Pharmaceutical Association Chairman, Chitechi Amboka, termed the guidelines contained in the Good Pharmacy Practice Standards, discriminatory, saying the rules strip qualified diploma-holders of the right to handle essential medicines. Amboka said pharmaceutical technologists constitute over 70 per cent of all healthcare practitioners and play a crucial role in the day-to-day running of healthcare operations. He said the new draft guidelines, expected to take effect in January next year, risk causing a collapse of the healthcare system at a time when the government is implementing Universal Health Coverage (UHC). “The new guidelines adopted by the Pharmacy and Poisons Board will bar over 11,000 of our members from handling medicines across 3,569 public facilities, retaining those functions for degree holders only,” said Amboka, stressing, “We hereby reject this in totality.” Addressing the media in Naivasha, Amboka said the Association would hold a prote...
This page contains an attributed headline and the preview text supplied through the publisher’s RSS feed. Copyright in the original reporting belongs to KBC.
