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Some dispensing guidelines for pharmacists

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eMediNexus    23 July 2022

  • Prescription medicines must be sold strictly and only against a fresh prescription of a qualified doctor.
  • If a prescription has been dispensed once, it should be stamped with a “Dispensed” stamp below the prescribed medicines and the date of dispensing. The Pharmacist under whose supervision the medicines have been dispensed should sign the prescription.
  • The pharmacist should check the prescription carefully and make sure that it is complete.
  • If there is suspicion of forgery, or the prescription has been written by an unqualified person, or if there is overwriting, a pharmacy can refuse to dispense a prescription. If the medicines have been prescribed in excessively large quantities or if any one or more of the listed items, mandated by law to be on a prescription, are missing, incomplete or improper, the pharmacy can refuse to dispense.
  • It is inappropriate for the pharmacist to accept and dispense prescriptions that are brought in by children below 18 years of age.
  • If the pharmacist has any doubts about the prescription or a particular medicine prescribed, he/she should contact the concerned doctor. If the doctor cannot be contacted, then he/she should not dispense.
  • The prescription should be complete in terms of details of the doctor, patient and the medicines. If the details of the doctor (full name, qualifications, registration number, address) are missing, then the pharmacist should ask the patient the doctors name and contact the doctor by phone, if required. The missing patient details can be obtained from the patient and noted on the prescription. If the medicine details are not legible or missing, then he/she should not dispense the drugs without contacting the doctor. 
  • A pharmacist is not allowed to substitute a brand written by a doctor.* If the brand is not available, the doctor should be contacted and the Brand changed.

*In India, a dispensing pharmacist is not authorized to substitute a branded medicine with a branded-generic (or generic) as per the provisions under Rule 65 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 and Rules, 1945 (Indian J Pharmacol. 2011 Apr; 43(2): 131–13).

  • If potency or strength of the medicine is not mentioned on the prescription, the pharmacist should not dispense the lowest potency of the prescribed drug.
  • A pharmacist is not authorized to change the potency of the drug that has been prescribed, even if the patient asks for it.
  • A pharmacist should not dispense unauthorized prescriptions or prescriptions from quacks or cross-prescription (Allopathic doctors prescribing Ayurvedic medicines or vice versa).
  • Prescription medicines should be sold only with a prescription from a doctor or in the presence of a pharmacist. Only the OTC medicines can be dispensed to patientwithout a prescription.
  • The pharmacist should not comment on the content of the prescription even by body language or facial expression. He/she should not discuss the prescription with a colleague in front of the patient in order to avoid creating any doubt in the mind of the patient about the doctor.
  • The pharmacist should not dispense more than the prescribed quantity.

Adapted from Guidelines for prescription writing and handling of prescription and prescription medicines. A Stakeholders Initiative – Goa. Available at: http://dfda.goa.gov.in/images/uploads/prescription_guidelines_booklet_for_doctors_pharmacists.pdf

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