Santosh Diwakar Pathak of Khamgaon was asked by Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) to surrender his pharmacy registration certificate and registration number after it found that he was already been registered as a homeopathic doctor.

According to the MSPC laws, person registered with other professional council cannot get the registration number as pharmacist.

Saili Masal, registrar of the MSPC, said that every applicant of pharmacy council has to give an undertaking that he is not a member of any other professional body. Santosh Pathak had also given the undertaking but it has been discovered that he already had registration number as a doctor. He will face the action as per the laws. Until then, he has been asked to submit his registration number for misleading the MSPC in initial investigations.

The matter came to light when Pathak, a homeopath had applied for a license to run a medical shop to the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) in Buldhana district. Gajanan Ghirke, assistant commissioner of FDA, Buldhana, also said that irregularities were found in his application. He also said that the person was working as a registered homeopathic practitioner in Khamgaon. Although his practice was still on, he completed a degree course in pharmacy from Indore-based University. After getting a pharma degree, he applied for a registration number from MSPC and also got the same. However, when he applied for license to run a medical shop, it is FDA’s duty to check the documents.

The FDA had lodged a complaint against him with MSPC after investigations. MSPC has decided to withdraw his registration as it found it genuine. In the meantime, the Maharashtra Registered Pharmacists Association (MRPA) has raised questions on MSPC’s registration process due to this case.

Kailas Tandale, president of MRPA, said that a person getting pharma degree from other state university can get enrolled as MSPC member so informally is very difficult to understand. The purpose of this doctor to run his clinic and a medical shop side by side are very clear in this case. MSPC must file a FIR against this medical fraud.