{"result":"update_story","description":"<p>Two Vancouver pharmacists facing sanctions for alleged improper opioid-dispensing practices are taking the College of Pharmacists of B.C. to court, claiming evidence was collected &quot;improperly&quot; during inspections by college investigators.<\/p> <p>The college announced last month that it was limiting the practices of four pharmacists who worked at two Vancouver pharmacies over &quot;serious&quot; allegations of improper opioid dispensing and record keeping at the pharmacies. <\/p> <p>College CEO Suzanne Solven said it was an &quot;extraordinary step&quot; to suspend pharmacy manager Karandeep Singh Chohan&#39;s registration, and limit the practices of Charanjit Pal, Mamteshwari Latchman and Jennifer Van Bui before the college&#39;s investigation was finished. <\/p> <p>Chohan was the manager of Fraser Outreach Pharmacy, and &quot;college inspectors identified what appeared to be multiple breaches of the college&rsquo;s bylaws and standards&quot; in August last year, the reasons for action posted by the college said. <\/p> <p>The reason&#39;s about Chohan&#39;s suspension say he was also investigated five times for similar conduct between 2016 and 2023. <\/p>\n\t\t<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-1515615292703-0\" class=\"dfp-ad dfp-in-content\" style=\"margin-bottom:15px;\">\n\t\t<script>\n\t\t\tgoogletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display(\"div-gpt-ad-1515615292703-0\"); });\n\t\t<\/script>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t <p><img alt=\"&lt;who&gt; Photo Credit: The Canadian Press\" src=\"\/files\/files\/images\/86fed2c64932f4be181554fbf18ed8814aa2cc084e0740394d5f2ffc9aa31cfb.jpg\" style=\"margin: 5px;\" \/><\/p> <p>A notification for Pal said he was the manager of Fraser Neighbourhood Pharmacy and had been investigated for &quot;similar concerns&quot; at a different pharmacy in 2021. <\/p> <p>Van Bui, Latchman and Pal&#39;s practice limitations include conditions that they &quot;not provide any services related to &#39;safe supply&#39; in any form or capacity.&quot; <\/p> <p>Latchman and Van Bui filed petitions in B.C. Supreme Court last month claiming the inspections of the pharmacies that led to its decision were done without &quot;proper statutory authority&quot; and that evidence was collected &quot;improperly.&quot; <\/p> <p>Both Latchman and Van Bui filed affidavits stating that Fraser Outreach&#39;s manager told them that the college&#39;s inspections were done &quot;without proper statutory authority&quot; and that evidence was &quot;obtained improperly.&quot; <\/p> <p>They claim the pharmacy manager had a lawyer who would be making the case to the college&#39;s inquiry committee that the inspections were done outside inspector&#39;s jurisdiction and without &quot;procedural fairness.&quot; <\/p> <p>The limitations imposed on Latchman and Van Bui took effect on March 24 and Pal&#39;s practice limits took effect May 12, but Chohan&#39;s suspension won&#39;t be implemented until May 27 &quot;pending completion of the investigation and any resulting disciplinary hearing.&quot;<\/p> <p>The college says inspections of the Vancouver pharmacies in 2024 uncovered a number of issues including &quot;inadequate&quot; narcotic inventory control, inaccurate record keeping, and &quot;non-compliance&quot; with opioid agonist treatment dispensing and delivery standards. <\/p> <p>Van Bui and Latchman&#39;s lawyers did not respond to a request for comment about the petitions, and the College of Pharmacists of BC did not provide comment on the cases. <\/p> <p>The B.C. Ministry of Health said in February that it was investigating allegations against more than 60 pharmacies &quot;suspected of engaging in illegal activities, including misusing fee-for-service payments to offer incentives to attract patients.&quot; <\/p> <p>It said the government was changing the fee structure for pharmacies that offer opioids under the &quot;prescribed alternatives&quot; regime, in part to &quot;avoid financial incentive for<b> <\/b>bad actors to offer kickbacks to retain and attract new patients, and to try to take advantage of the system.&quot; <\/p> <p>Health Minister Josie Osborne said most pharmacies follow the rules, &quot;but it is unacceptable that bad actors are exploiting the health-care system and putting communities at risk.&rdquo; <\/p> <p>&ldquo;We are working with law enforcement to stop illegal activity and ensure pharmacies operate in the best interests of patients and public safety.&rdquo;<\/p> <p>The Health Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday about on the status of the pharmacy investigations. <\/p>","title":"BC pharmacists sanctioned over opioid dispensing practices file court challenges"}