The Health Laws Amendment Bill 2018 has been the subject of heated debates because it will allow people without a degree in pharmacy to sit on the Pharmacy and Poisons Board, open chemists and import drugs.
The bill that is awaiting President Uhuru Kenyatta’s signature will bring down the qualification for opening a pharmacy, sitting on the board as well as importing drugs to diploma holders.
The Pharmacy Students Association of Kenya (KEPHSA) has petitioned the president not to sign it claiming that the new law will dilute the profession by allowing quacks to operate.
Global standards on medical practitioners do not allow diploma holders to run drug stores.
"While we agree with certain clauses in the proposed amendment, we reject it in its entirety as it fails to address fundamental issues of the pharmacy practice,” regretted KEPHSA Chair Dr Cohen Andove.
Dr Christine Ndanu, who holds a diploma in pharmaceutical technology, told the Nation that there is no law against diploma students advancing their qualifications.
“I have gone through the diploma course and joined the university. If diploma students wish to be recognised as pharmacists, let them go back to school just as I did,” commented Dr Ndanu.
In a previous interview, Pharmaceutical Society of Kenya (PSK) President, Dr Louis Machogu, termed it as a systematic effort to lock professionals out of the regulation of the industry.
He explained that the process was initiated in the 11th parliament when a politician with vast interests in the pharmaceutical sector tabled the amendments.
“It removed the legally accountable individual, who is the pharmacist, from the Kenya Medical Supplies Authority (KEMSA)," he added.
