Junee pharmacist’s license suspended after guilty verdict

Junee residents will soon have to get their medicines from just one pharmacy after the sole pharmacist at Junee Discount Pharmacy was convicted of breaching professional conduct. Photo: Tempura.

Junee residents may soon be left with only one pharmacy to dispense their medication after the sole pharmacist at Junee Discount Pharmacy had his license revoked.

Pharmacist Michael Ezzat Helal Azzer will be banned from dispensing medicines for three months starting July 5 after being found guilty of four counts of inadequate professional conduct and one count of professional misconduct.

While working at Christopher Discount Chemist Kogarah in southern Sydney between 2017 and 2018, Mr Azzer was the subject of several complaints, including over-dispensing prescription medication to several patients.

The Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) tribunal overseeing the case found that Mr Azzer had on several occasions dispensed excessive quantities of Schedule 8 and 4D medicines which it considered “could have caused death or serious harm had they actually been ingested”.

In one case, it was alleged that Mr Azzer administered two packs of alprazolam and two packs of diazepam to a patient at the same time on the same day in 2018.

Both medicines are benzodiazepine-type tranquilizers used to treat conditions such as anxiety disorders and insomnia.

The HCCC found Mr Azzer:

• Inappropriate and excessive dispensing of Schedule 8 and 4D medicines.
• Simultaneous administration of benzodiazepines from two different prescriptions to the same patient.
• Inappropriately administered psychostimulants.
• Improper dispensing of List 8 medicinal products whose prescription did not comply with legal requirements.
• Improperly dispensed List 4D medicines for which no information on the dispensing interval was provided on the prescriptions.

The suspension of Mr Azzer’s licence was stayed for 30 days to give him the opportunity to find another pharmacy at Junee Discount Pharmacy for the duration of his three-month suspension.

The full list of complaints can be found in the Health Care Complaints Commission report here.