PHARMACISTS REGISTRATION BILL

Order for Second Reading read. 3.15 p.m.

The Minister for Health (Dr Toh Chin Chye): Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, "That the Bill be now read a Second time."

The existing Pharmacists Registration Act provides, inter alia, for a Pharmacy Board which has the Director of Medical Services as its President and Registrar. It has been considered that the pharmaceutical profession ought to be self-governing. Hence the Pharmacists Registration (Amendment) Bill seeks to alter the composition of the Pharmacy Board to comprise members of the profession only. The Chief Pharmacist of the Ministry of Health will, therefore, be the President and Registrar of the Board.

The existing Act provides that any person who holds any qualifications recognised by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain can be registered as a Pharmacist in Singapore. The Bill seeks to discard this dependency on the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain by establishing our own sine qua non for registration. This will enable us to control the type and quality of Pharmacists in Singapore. This Bill re-defines the registration requirements of Pharmacists, so that registration is restricted to persons who have obtained pharmaceutical qualifications from the University of Singapore and persons who possess qualifications approved by the Minister for Health.

There are sections in the existing Act which pertain to the Pharmacy trade. These provisions, which control the trade and the safety, quality and efficacy of pharmaceutical products, have been made in the Medicines Act of 1975. This Bill seeks to update the present Act by a deletion of those sections which have been adequately covered by the Medicines Act.

Question put, and agreed to.

Bill accordingly read a Second time and committed to a Committee of the whole House.

The House immediately resolved itself into a Committee on the Bill. - [Dr Toh Chin Chye].

Bill considered in Committee; reported without amendment; read a Third time and passed.