Is there a risk of closing pharmacies across the country?

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Recently, even the mainstream media has been reporting misleading news, and people are discussing this. Accordingly, due to a news report in a mainstream newspaper on November 8th, this discussion arose again. So, we decided to do a fact-check on this.

Social media posts:

A news post on Facebook stated, “There is a risk of closure of pharmacies across the country.”

Facebook | Archived Link

Below are some other posts shared under the same heading.

The base for these posts was the news published on Aruna newspaper on 8^th November 2024 with the headline, “Risk of closure of pharmacies across the country”.

Is there a risk of closure of pharmacies from next January? We took steps to find the credibility of this news.

Fact Check:

On 8^th November 2024, the main story of Aruna newspaper reported that there is a risk of closure of pharmacies across the country. According to the news published, the All-Island Private Pharmacy Owner’s Association has warned that there is a risk of the closure of many pharmacies by January next year due to the rejection of many applications sent to the National Medicines Regulatory Authority for the renewal of the annual licenses of 5000 pharmacies across the island. The newspaper further reports that Chandana Gankanda, the Chairman of the All Island Private Pharmacy Owner’s Association, said that the National Medicines Authority has taken an urgent decision and started rejecting applications saying that there is a shortage of pharmacists in the country.

The ‘Divaina’ newspaper has also reported that news under the headline: “Risk of closure of pharmacies due to the new licensing law”. It reports that Chandana Gankanda, the chairman of All Island Private Pharmacy Owner’s Association, stated that there is a risk of closure of pharmacies across the country because they have started to issue licenses for pharmacies in 2025 only if the pharmacists remain in the pharmacy, the entire time they are open. It further says that Mr. Chandana Gankanda said that there are only 6000 pharmacists in the country though there are about 5100 private pharmacies and 60 government pharmacies.

He has further stated that, the law which was proposed to be implemented by the government within 100 days in 2015 by the Drug Regulatory Authority was not implemented at the time because of many practical issues, and that there may be a higher risk if it is implemented about a month after the new government was elected.

You can watch here, here and here, how it was reported through television media.

In this regard, Chandana Gankanda, while holding a press conference, said that the National Medicines Regulatory Authority has recently tightened the law that a pharmacist must remain at the pharmacy full-time.

The All-Island Private Pharmacy Owner’s Association had also informed the Ministry of Health about this through a letter.

Should a pharmacist be present at a pharmacy?

The National Medicines Regulatory Authority Act No. 5 of 2015 states that every licensed pharmacy must have at least one qualified pharmacist on duty. And that pharmacist should be responsible for all activities of the pharmacy.

Also, the dispensing of medicines in every pharmacy should be done by a pharmacist or a registered apprentice pharmacist under the direct supervision of a pharmacist.

According to the National Medicines Regulatory Authority Act No. 5 of 2015, which has been in force since 2015, it is legally mandatory to dispense drugs under the direct supervision of a pharmacist in a pharmacy.

Has the National Medicines Regulatory Authority (NMRA) taken a decision regarding the renewal of licenses of pharmacies?

With the ongoing news of a closure of pharmacies from January, the National Medicines Regulatory Authority issued a statement saying that the news of closure of pharmacies due to the rejection of many applications sent to the National Medicines Regulatory Authority for the renewal of annual licenses are false and is misleading people.

The National Medicines Regulatory Authority has not taken any urgent decision regarding the issuance of licenses and they state that no changes have been made in the methodology implemented for this.

They have further indicated that there have been complaints that some pharmacy owners are employing inexperienced people with a lack of knowledge of medicine, and there have been cases where patients have had problems due to wrong medicines given by them.

Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama, the chairman of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority further states that it is essential to have a qualified pharmacist in the pharmacy, and it is a policy that the National Medicines Regulatory Authority has consistently followed.

The chairman of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority, Ananda Wijewickrama.

We also inquired about this by contacting Dr. Ananda Wijewickrama. He says that there was no new law that was implemented or changes made. Since 2015, this law has been practiced according to the legal procedures of the National Medicines Regulatory Authority. 

We asked him whether a large number of license renewal requests have been denied by them, according to the All-Island Private Pharmacy Owner’s Association. He said that though some pharmacies register their shop with a licensed pharmacist, later they employ many unskilled employees without the knowledge of the medicines. Sometimes, pharmacists have notified them if they are resigning from the pharmacy. Under such circumstances, applications sent without a qualified pharmacist, will not be rejected, but their applications will be kept by the National Medicines Regulatory Authority and advise them to obtain the license with a qualifies pharmacist.

He further says that a large number of licenses have not been rejected as mentioned in the newspaper.

He added that though there is a shortage of qualifies pharmacists in the country, it is not possible to issue licensed to pharmacies that do not have qualifies pharmacists.

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Conclusion

Posts circulated in social media stating that there is a risk of closure of pharmacies around the country from January 2025 are misleading. They have been created due to the decision taken by the National Medicines Regulatory Authority not to grant licenses to pharmacies without a qualified pharmacist.