Cropper opposes Pharmacy Bill

In the Senate last Tuesday, in response Minister of Health John Rahael agreed to refer the Bill to a Senate Select Committee for modification.

“I think we’ve fallen short in this Bill,” said Cropper, “and both the Senate and the public deserve better.”

She lamented that at each stage of the Bill’s passage — its introduction, first reading, and second reading — new amendments had been introduced.

“Can’t we have a more coherent and comprehensive approach to this legislation?” she asked.

Like many other senators, she disagreed with the Bill having a schedule listing Filipino and Indian universities whose pharmacy degrees would be recognised when, she argued, the approval of universities is actually the job of the Accreditation Board of Trinidad and Tobago.

“We will lose rigour and standards if we leave accreditation to this Bill instead of the Accreditation Council.”

Noting problems like the dumping of counterfeit drugs in developing countries, she said Trinidad and Tobago should be trying to increase the threshold for training pharmacists and not water it down.