The Taiwan Pharmacist Association on Wednesday said it had canceled a rally in Taipei scheduled for Sunday after receiving assurances from the Ministry of Health and Welfare that it would not set up a technician’s licensing system that would allow Chinese herbal remedy dealers to prescribe certain types of medication.
The controversial issue has been a subject of debate between pharmacist groups and Chinese herbal remedy dealers for months, since the ministry last year proposed amending the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法) that would establish a “Chinese herbal medicine management technician licensing system” that herbal remedy dealers can obtain.
“We were planning to hold a rally on Ketagalan Boulevard on Sunday against Chinese herbal remedy dealers trying to break the medical system to save their business,” Taiwan Pharmacist Association director Gu Bo-ren (古博仁) said.
“We [pharmacists] cannot condone such a system from a professional perspective,” because it would put public health at risk, he added.
“Business and professional expertise should be separate,” he said.
The association said it had discussed the issue with the government many times, but had never received a satisfactory response, so it planned to hold a rally to draw the government’s attention to their cause.
However, the group attended a meeting with the ministry on Tuesday last week, during which the ministry voiced its intention not to set up a technician licensing system for Chinese herbal medicine dealers, so “we decided to cancel the rally,” Gu said.
However, the ministry issued a press release on Wednesday, saying no such conclusion was reached at the meeting and that talks are ongoing.
Ministry official Chen Pin-chi (陳聘琪) said the ministry has already excluded herbal medicines that have more potent effects or need a professional prescription from those that Chinese herbal remedy shops are allowed to sell.
As such, most of the ingredients sold in those shops are dietary supplements that do not pose serious health risks, Chen said.
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