Tribunal finds Auburn pharmacist Hany Abdalla failed to properly dispense addictive drugs
A pharmacist who has been banned for practising pharmacy for three years after failing to properly dispense addictive drugs is still working as a GP in the same western Sydney suburb.
Parramatta
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Former Auburn pharmacist Dr Hany Abdalla, who the Health Care Complaints Commission prosecuted for failing to properly dispense addictive drugs properly, is still working as a GP in the same suburb.
Dr Abdalla was prosecuted before the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal in July and was found guilty of failing to manage his pharmacy, Your Chemist Shop, (formerly known as Auburn Late Night Chemist) for 10 years up to 2016.
The commission banned him from working as a pharmacist for three years and found he had a financial and professional conflict of interest because he worked as a GP next door at the NAS Advanced Medical Centre.
His role as a GP was not prosecuted and he is now listed as working at Auburn’s Norval Steet Medical Centre.
The tribunal found Dr Abdalla wrote scripts that failed to state necessary details required for addictive drugs before it could be considered for dispensing.
During proceedings, he admitted that he was guilty of professional misconduct after he inappropriately prescribed “schedule 8 drugs of addiction” for 13 patients and that he had failed to keep proper records for them.
The addictive drugs included fentanyl, which is similar to morphine and can be used as a recreational drug, and antidepressant Sertraline.
One example of misconduct was Dr Abdalla dispensing fentanyl scripts without adequate instructions on 20 occasions.
On three occasions, after another doctor wrote a script, the pharmacy dispensed Aurorix 300mg while the patient was taking fentanyl patches.
The tribunal found: “A pharmacist should have known that this combination is contraindicated due to the possibility of causing Serotonin toxicity.’’
The tribunal found Dr Abdalla failed to monitor the supply of drugs including those with a low-abuse potential such as Zydol.
A commission member said: “I consider that Dr Abdalla’s lack of oversight caused his conduct as a pharmacist and proprietor of the pharmacy to fall significantly below the standard reasonably expected of a practitioner of an equivalent level of training and experience and invites my strong criticism.”
The tribunal found he should have established systems at the pharmacy which reduced errors.
“Through the lack of Dr Abdalla’s oversight of the pharmacy no systems appeared to be in place to ensure that correct procedures were followed,’’ a tribunal member said.
The tribunal also found Dr Abdalla failed to manage “conflict of interest’’ between his role as the owner of the Auburn Rd pharmacy, which he first bought in 2002, and the neighbouring medical where he worked as a GP between 2006 and 2016.
The tribunal heard Dr Abdalla’s patients may not have been aware of his financial and professional role as the pharmacy proprietor, and he failed to inform them about the dual jobs.
The tribunal found the pharmacists he employed may have also felt constrained to scrutinise or question prescriptions he wrote because of professional obligations.
Dr Abdalla conceded the shortcomings to the tribunal: “I see now that because of the power imbalance this could have created difficulties for (the employees) and I am disappointed in myself for not realising this issue at the time.”
The tribunal found him guilty of relinquishing his pharmacist drug authority, which was a condition of his GP registration.
Dr Abdalla, who graduated with a bachelor of pharmacy from the University of Sydney in 2000, first started working at the Auburn pharmacy in 2002.