Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has decided to allow pharmacists to treat and prescribe medicines for certain ailments – malaria, fever and upper respiratory tract infection – in absence of doctors.
They can dispense only government supply medicines under Niramaya and this is applicable to only single doctor hospitals, an official order said on Wednesday.
“Many hospitals with a lone doctor are managed by pharmacists in their absence. It is difficult to do so without any specific government order entrusting the pharmacists with the treatment of patients and the lists of ailments to be treated by them,” it read.
The pharmacists can provide medicines for malaria, in accordance with the guidelines of the national vector-borne diseases control programme. For fever and URTI, they can give prescribe paracetamol, azithromycin, cefixime, amoxicillin and ciprofloxacin, the order added.
They can also treat diarrhoea, scabies and ringworm, among others.
Public Health Director Bijay Mohapatra said it is a modification of its September 23, 2003, order and more medicines have been included in the list.
