3 Vancouver pharmacists ordered not to provide 'safe supply' pending investigation outcome
CBC
Three Vancouver pharmacists have been ordered not to provide patients "safe supply" medications pending the outcome of an investigation prompted by complaints about the provision of opioid treatment services at a pair of East Vancouver pharmacies.
B.C.'s College of Pharmacists took the extraordinary step of announcing interim measures against Charanjit Pal, Jennifer Van Bui and Mamteshwari Ravnita Latchman this week. In a related case, the regulator also announced the suspension of a fourth pharmacist — Karandeep Singh Chohan.
Chohan — whose suspension is set to begin May 27 — is the former manager of Fraser Outreach Pharmacy, where Bui and Latchman worked as staff pharmacists. Pal — whose suspension begins May 12 — is the manager of Fraser Neighbourhood Pharmacy, a few blocks away.
The college claims health-care providers voiced concerns last spring about the pharmacies' handling of Opioid Agonist Treatment — the use of medications like methadone to manage opioid withdrawal symptoms.
The complaints allegedly prompted on-site inspections at both pharmacies.
According to the college, the allegations relate to "narcotic inventory control and management, prescription checking requirements, PharmaNet record keeping, patient consultations, supervision of non-pharmacist staff, and compliance with ethical standards."
In a statement, college registrar and CEO Suzanne Solven noted that the investigation is not complete and disciplinary proceedings have yet to happen.
"Our responsibility is to make sure pharmacy care in B.C. is safe and ethical and we take this mandate extremely seriously," she said.
"In this case the preliminary evidence and the allegations are so serious that the Inquiry Committee decided the extraordinary step of interim actions were necessary to protect the public while the investigation is underway."
None of the allegations against any of the pharmacists named by the college have been proven, and the two staff pharmacists — Bui and Latchman — filed petitions in B.C. Supreme Court Thursday seeking to overturn the interim measures against them.
According to court documents, both of the pharmacists want an order quashing the decision to impose conditions on their registration as they claim the college's pharmacy inspections were done without proper statutory authority.
The interim restrictions follow widespread concern in B.C. about the administration of the province's safe supply program — which provides patients addicted to opioids a prescribed alternative..
Critics have complained about the diversion of safe supply drugs into the toxic drug supply, allegations the province denied until leaked Ministry of Health slides showed officials believed a significant portion of the prescription pills were being trafficked nationally and internationally.
Last February, the province overhauled the program, forcing safe supply users to take their medication under the supervision of a pharmacist or health-care provider.
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