Yoseph Akawee in misconduct ruling after prescribing addictive drugs to patients, friends

A Sydney pharmacist who prescribed addictive drugs to patients – including to members of his own family – has conceded he made ‘regrettable’ mistakes.

A Sydney pharmacist who prescribed addictive drugs to patients – including to members of his own family – has had his medical registration cancelled after a probe by the state’s healthcare watchdog.

The NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal has found Yoseph Akawee guilty of professional misconduct following a Health Care Complaints Commission investigation into his treatment of patients between October and December 2020.

Mr Akawee was found to have inappropriately prescribed Schedule 8 medicines – also known as drugs of addiction – to 10 patients while working at Pharmacy 4 Less in Hornsby.

The drugs of addiction included endone, oxycontin, testosterone drug primoteston, anabolic androgenic steroids and alprazolam, which is commonly sold under the brand name Xanax.

Some of the drugs Mr Akawee prescribed were to members of his own family, friends and “friends of friends”.

Mr Akawee worked at Pharmacy 4 Less at Hornsby at the time of the conduct.

The tribunal heard some of the prescriptions contained no name of the patient, no address of the patient, and were not signed by a medical practitioner.

He also inappropriately supplied a prescribed restricted substance and a drug of addiction to a patient on the NSW Opioid Treatment Program.

The tribunal heard that at least 20 occasions prescriptions were confirmed to be forgeries and did not include all the details required under mandated Poisons and Therapeutics Goods Regulations.

When asked to explain how he prescribed the drugs, Mr Akawee told the investigation that he had made “mistakes” and “leaned too heavily on knowing the patients or having them be friends of friends”.

The HCCC – in its submissions to the tribunal – argued Mr Akawee should have been aware of his professional role and that good practice includes “recognising the potential conflicts and risks of providing care to family and friends”.

“There is a threat to public health posed by the diversion and misuse of prescription pharmaceuticals, including poisoning, overdose and death,” the HCCC stated. “The practitioner’s conduct had the potential to contribute to the misuse and abuse of prescription medication, including drugs of addiction.”

The drugs were dispensed from the Hornsby pharmacy.

Mr Akawee told the tribunal he acknowledged there were “regrettable failures” in prescribing the drugs and that he was “committed to improving (his) knowledge, understanding and skills” by undertaking education programs.

“I am disappointed that I failed to perform to the standard that was expected of me and there has been no greater learning experience than this,” he said.

“Being a pharmacist has been my dream job. Having failed so early in my career has been extremely disheartening, but also a motivator to better myself – for myself, my patients and the community.

“Having been through this experience, the silver lining is that I have become aware of my deficiencies at an early enough time in my career so as to avoid a long period of putting the community at risk.”

The tribunal – in its decision to cancel Mr Akawee’s registration – said any order short of deregistration would be an “inadequate response” to the seriousness of his misconduct.

“Pharmacists are gatekeepers protecting the community” the tribunal stated. “The proper and legal dispensing of any medication … lies at the very heart of the role of the pharmacist.”

As part of the tribunal’s order, Mr Akawee will not be able to make an application for review of cancellation for a period of 12 months.