Pharmacist banned over drug thefts

AN ASPIRING pharmacist’s provisional registration has been cancelled and she has been barred from the profession for at least two years, after stealing prescription medicines.

Sara Shadi Kazeme was found guilty of theft and attempted theft of prescription-only products including human growth hormone, cosmetics, vitamins and other items, from a pharmacy she was working in, by the Magistrates Court of Victoria on 23 Nov 2016.

The offences occurred between 13 Feb 2014 and Jun 2015, on 83 separate occasions, at the Como Compounding Pharmacy in South Yarra, where she was employed to dispense medicines.

Documents from the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal reported Kazeme created false compounding request forms, and then packaged and distributed the stolen products to various addresses, including her own home.

In a civil case taken by her former employer, Nima Alavi-Moghadan, on 16 May 2016, it was claimed Kazeme had wrongfully appropriated pharmaceuticals and other items, and sought damages of $285,291.05, a figure she disputed, suggesting the wholesale value of the stolen items was between $10,000 and $15,000.

On 26 Feb 2018, Kazeme was ordered to pay damages of $237,185, plus interest fixed at $41,481.58 for the period 16 May 2016 to 16 Feb 2018, and costs of $10,000.

At the time of the VCAT hearing on 19 Nov 2018, Kazeme had not made any repayments.

Pharmacy Board of Australia Chair, Brett Simmonds, welcomed the VCAT decision to reprimand and cancel Kazeme’s registration and bar her from reapplying for a minimum of two years.

“The Board welcomes the tribunal’s decision and its emphasis on the importance of the trust that the community places in pharmacists to protect and control access to both prescription and non-prescription pharmaceutical drugs and products,” he said.

In early 2016, the Pharmacy Council of NSW suspended Kazeme’s provisional registration, when she was involved with a clinic that made false and misleading claims about the benefits of an IV vitamin drip service (PD 27 Jan 2016).