Remorseful pharmacist reprimanded
“IGNORANCE, inexperience and undue deference to prescribing prac oners” has landed a NSW‐ base pharmacist with a reprimand.
A NSW Civil and Administra ve Tribunal hearing was told that between Sep 2014 and Jul 2017 Nabil Tamer had worked as the pharmacist-in-charge at Kingswood Compounding Pharmacy.
In 2017, the Pharmaceutical Regulatory Unit (PRU) discovered that the store had been purchasing large quan es of somatropin and testosterone, which were known to be abused by body builders, while a previous PRU inves ga on found the pharmacy had “significant quan es of viamond‐branded stanoxolol products, which are prohibited in Australia”.
Following the 2017 inves ga on, the PRU reported that between Jul 2015 and May 2017, Tamer and other pharmacists employed by the pharmacy had “inappropriately dispensed and compounded serveral drugs, including somatropin and testosterone”, while deficiencies rela ng to records and oversight were iden fied.
The Tribunal heard that on mul ple occasions Tamer dispensed compounded medica ons when Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods-listed products were commercially available, in breach of the Pharmacy Board of Australia’s Compounding Guidelines.
“We accept Tamer’s claim that he is genuinely remorseful for his conduct and has made real efforts to improve his knowledge of the rules and guidelines which govern the practice of pharmacy in NSW,” The Tribunal said.
“In addi on, we find that he has demonstrated insight into his misconduct and a genuine desire to improve his practice.
“Nonetheless, we have decided that it is appropriate to extend the prohibi on on Tamer working as a pharmacist in charge or sole pharmacist for a further six months.”
The Tribunal has also been barred Tamer from working in complex compounding for more than four years, and ordered him to undertake further educa on before recommencing in that area of work.
Tamer must also nominate or accept a mentor within the next four weeks, and undergo mentoring for a period of 12 months after they have been approved by the Pharmacy Council of NSW.