AS a registered pharmacist committed to the integrity of healthcare in Jamaica, I approach the debate on doctors filling prescriptions in office not with hostility, but with humility—and a call for accountability from all corners of the health system. Many health practitioners do consult pharmacists daily to support safe and effective therapeutic decisions. This article, then, is for those professionals still catching up to the realities of modern interdisciplinary practice.

This conversation is about standards, safety, and the right of every Jamaican to receive medications that are properly stored, accurately dispensed, and ethically supplied. Access to medication is a human right — not a battleground for professional egos or financial opportunism. Concerns raised by the Pharmaceutical Society of Jamaica are not rooted in rivalry, but in regulatory responsibility. When medication is dispensed outside the guardrails of proper pharmaceutical oversight — without accountability, documentation, or clarity on storage conditions — the very patients we all claim to serve are being put at risk of bearing the consequences.

Yes, we understand the struggle. Patients without insurance. Mothers choosing between food and medicine. Fathers working two jobs and still coming up short at the counter. These are not abstract stories — we encounter them daily. In such cases, pharmacists actively explore high-quality, affordable therapeutic alternatives. We direct patients to the National Health Fund (NHF) pharmacies, where many essential medications are provided free of charge when patients are seen in government health-care settings. In moments that seldom make headlines, some of us even cover the cost of medications from our own pockets to ensure that no one is left behind.

To those doctors who argue, “I sell cheaper to help my patients”, I applaud your intent. However, in nearly every case I have encountered, the prices charged have exceeded those at regulated pharmacies, and patients are further disadvantaged by the fact that they cannot utilise social health insurance programmes such as their NHF card or private insurance to offset costs. A heart to serve must be matched with regulatory systems that protect. Medications must be properly stored, ethically priced, accurately dispensed, and carefully documented.

While Section 19(2)(a)(i) of the Pharmacy Act provides a legal exemption for doctors to supply medications, this exemption was designed to support immediate treatment needs — not to establish parallel dispensing systems outside the scope of regulatory oversight. It is time to revisit how this exemption is being interpreted and operationalised, so we can ensure that patient safety is never a casualty of professional overreach.

Unlike registered pharmacies, these settings are not required to adhere to rigorous storage protocols, batch recall systems, or regulatory pricing structures. Nor are they subject to routine inspections under the Pharmacy Council’s jurisdiction. As a result, we are witnessing the emergence of a dual system of drug distribution — one highly regulated, and the other virtually unmonitored.

This raises urgent questions about patient safety, conflict of interest, pharmacovigilance, and equity. The Medical Act does not empower doctors to operate pharmacies — it permits emergency supply for care continuity. When supply turns into sustained commerce, the intent of the law is stretched beyond recognition.

Pharmacies are not just retail outlets — they are healthcare practice settings, regulated by the Ministry of Health and Wellness, Jamaica, through the Pharmacy Council of Jamaica. Today’s pharmacy has evolved into a dynamic, evidence-based discipline — highly specialised and integral to modern healthcare delivery.

Pharmacists are the most accessible healthcare professionals — often the first point of contact for patients navigating symptoms, chronic conditions, or medication-related concerns. While physicians conduct clinical consultations to diagnose and manage disease, pharmaceutical practitioners provide pharmacotherapeutic consultations — evidence-based reviews focused on ensuring that each patient’s medications are safe, effective, and optimised for therapeutic success.

We also detect legal violations, such as attempts to fill fraudulent prescriptions under the guise of reputable practitioners — acts that not only endanger individuals, but also undermine the integrity of the medical profession and the wider healthcare system.

These interventions are not theoretical — they are real, daily actions that prevent adverse drug events, hospitalisations, and, in some cases, the loss of life. This silent safety net is one of the most underappreciated contributions of the profession.

Many patients also turn up at pharmacies with medications received from their physician’s office, asking us to help them identify the drug and explain what it is used for. They bring powdered antibiotics that were never mixed, or medications that are partially labelled — or not labelled at all — with no patient or prescriber information, drug name, or instructions for safe use.

Pharmacists are not shopkeepers of pills. We are pharmaceutical care practitioners and therapeutic experts, trained to protect the public from medication harm, improve treatment outcomes, and uphold the highest standards of pharmacovigilance.

We all have our roles as members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team — each unique, each essential. The physician, the pharmacist, the nurse, the dietitian, the clinical nutritionist, the medical technologist — just to name a few. We are not adversaries. We are allies in the service of the patient.

If if there must be competition, let it be this: to exceed the quality of care we delivered the day before — while upholding regulatory principles, maintaining shared purpose across our professional lanes, and advancing excellence in service of the people we are called to protect.