Fake pharmacists in Bihar: State govt, pharmacy council can't play with lives of people, SC says

The Supreme Court has said the state government or its pharmacy council cannot be allowed to play with the life of people while noting the allegations that fake pharmacists were running hospitals and medical stores in Bihar, affecting the health of citizens.

A bench of Justices M R Shah and M M Sundresh restored a PIL in Patna High Court, alleging fake pharmacists running medical stores and hospitals in Bihar.

"Running the hospitals/dispensaries in absence of any registered pharmacist and/or running such hospitals by a fake pharmacist and even running the medical stores by a fake pharmacist and without even any pharmacist will ultimately affect the health of the citizen. The state government and the Bihar State Pharmacy Council cannot be permitted to play with the health and life of the citizens," the bench added.

The court disapproved the High Court's decision to dispose of the PIL "ventilating the very serious grievances touching the health and life of the citizen".

The court noted that serious allegations were made against the Bihar State Pharmacy Council and the Bihar government for not taking any action, which affected the health of the citizen.

"The High Court ought to have called upon the Bihar State Pharmacy Council to file the status report on the allegations of fake pharmacist and/or on how many Governments’ hospitals/hospitals in the state are run without registered pharmacist," the bench pointed out.

Under the Pharmacy Act, 1948 as well as the Pharmacy Practice Regulations, 2015, it is the duty cast upon the Pharmacy Council and the state government to see that the hospitals/medical stores, etc are not run by the fake pharmacist and are run by the registered pharmacist only, the bench said.

On a petition filed by Mukesh Kumar, the top court set aside the HC's division bench order of December 9, 2019, saying it has disposed of the writ petition in a most casual manner.

The court remanded the matter back to the HC by asking it to decide the issues afresh within four weeks, after calling the detailed report from the Bihar government and the Bihar State Pharmacy Council on fake pharmacists.