Kathmandu, September 29:

Individuals with little knowledge on pharmacy are running drugstores in the country because an increasing number of pharmacists are going abroad every year in search of better opportunities, Navin Shrestha, the president of the Graduate Pharmacists’ Association Nepal (GPAN) and chief inspection officer at the DDA, said.

There are over 13,000 drug retailers in the country. But, on an average, institutions based in the country produce just 100 pharmacy graduates every year. So it’s not possible for every drugstore to keep a pharmacist.

Eva Bhattarai, the quality control officer at the Drug Research Council, left for the US this August, while Bimal Man Shrestha, a senior pharmacist in the Department of Drug

Administration (DDA), migrated to Canada two years ago. Lok Acharya, an officer at the Botanical Department, moved to the US for ‘further studies’.

According to an estimate, 100 pharmacists have migrated to European countries, America or Australia so far. “More and more pharmacists are going abroad,” said Bhupendra Bahadur Thapa, the DDA director-general, adding, “There is a dearth of pharmacists in the country, but we can do nothing to stop them from going abroad for better opportunities.”

Most dispensary staffers have received just 72-hour training conducted by the DDA. According to Thapa, there are about 300 registered pharmacy graduates in the country. About

150 hold proficient certificate-level degree from the Institute of Medicine (IOM), Maharajgunj.

Navin Shrestha said there were only 30 pharmacists when he graduated from the UK 30 years ago. The Institute of Medicine of the Tribhuvan University has eight seats for the graduate course on pharmacy. The Kathmandu University and Pokhara University take in 30 persons for the same course. Baburam Humagain, the president of the Nepal Pharmaceutical Association and a graduate in pharmacy from the KU, said the pharmacists migrate to get licences from pharmacy councils abroad. Everyone cannot make it through tough examinations like the Foreign Pharmacist Licensing Exam and the Multi-state Pharmacy Jurisprudence Exam, he said, adding, “One cannot get a licence without passing these examinations.”

After passing these examinations, one has to work 15,000 hours under the supervision of a practicing pharmacist to get the accreditation from the council. “A foreign-registered pharmacist can earn around $60 per hour there,” he said.