Everybody loves a free lunch! But when it comes to business, is there really such a thing? Have you ever been approached and offered something in return for something else? For example, have you ever been promised a gift (free lunch, physical gift, or even money) in return for selling more of one specific product in your pharmacy? We hope you haven’t, and that if you have, you were smart enough to turn the offer down. Why does the South African Pharmacy Council care if you get lunch for selling something? Because it may violate the Rules relating to the Code of Conduct for pharmacists and other persons registered in terms of the Pharmacy Act, 53 of 1974.
In this article, we want to remind you, as a pharmacy professional, that your first objective and responsibility is to ensure the wellbeing of your patient. This includes ensuring that they are given the best possible options in terms of medicine and medical devices. Encouraging a patient to purchase one product over another equally effective product with the intention of benefiting yourself or your pharmacy is unethical!
Council is aware that pharmacy professionals are being encouraged to offer specified services, medications, or medical devices to patients in return for incentives. We would like to remind you that this is a violation of your ethical responsibilities in terms of the Rules relating to the Code of Conduct for pharmacists and other persons registered in terms of the Pharmacy Act, 53 of 1974, in particular Rule 1.6.3 (a, b, and c).
Registered persons are obliged to provide medication/medical devices that are appropriate to achieve therapeutic outcomes for the patient or benefit the public. This should be done without giving the patient/public the impression that certain medications or medical devices are superior or offer more efficient results than others. It is your responsibility to prevent perverse incentives with regard to services and goods offered in your pharmacy. It remains a registered person’s responsibility to always sustain the honour and dignity of the pharmacy profession and to refrain from any activity which may bring the profession into disrepute.
Perverse incentives are incentives that may give companies and/or individuals financial gains in return for promoting specific services to clients or patients. An example may be as follows:
where a manufacturer provides a pharmacy owner with certain incentives such as sponsoring training, team building, or lunch sessions for their team in return for prioritising their medicines and medical devices when dispensing to patients;
where an employer provides bonuses to employees who sell or offer more of a certain manufacturer’s medication; or
where a medical aid company offers a pharmacy to be a designated service provider in return for discounted prices by, for example, offering pharmacy staff lunch in order for them to only sell or recommend products belonging to that particular company.
Perverse incentives are deemed to be unethical or unprofessional conduct, and cases of such may be subject to disciplinary action by the Council under Chapter V of the Pharmacy Act.