Registration to practice as a pharmacist for Rami Basem Hanania has been suspended until May 17 by the College of Pharmacists of BC after he acknowledged breaching the Health Professionals Act Code of Ethics.
Hanania’s location of practice is listed on the college’s website as Sechelt, but the name of the pharmacy where he was working at the time of the incident has not been disclosed.
A public notification published April 18 detailed four infractions committed by Hanania. It stated he “falsified inventory records and circumvented controls to conceal narcotic losses… left the pharmacy premises and left unregulated pharmacy staff unsupervised while the pharmacy was still operating and accessible to the public…purchased illicit substances while practicing as a pharmacist and consumed a mood-altering substance on the morning of a day where he was scheduled to practice as a pharmacist.”
In addition to the 30-day suspension, Hanania has been barred from serving as a pharmacy manager, director, officer, or as a preceptor for pharmacy students for a period of five years. For a period of a year following completion of his suspension, he is not perform administrative tasks related to narcotic and controlled substances.
In addition, Hanania is to complete an ethics course for healthcare professionals and following that, appear before the college’s Inquiry Committee for a verbal reprimand. A letter of reprimand is to be included permanently on his registration with the college. He was also fined $1,000.
In making its ruling, the committee considered that Hanania’s conduct was highly unethical and amounted to a “serious matter” and “professional misconduct."
According to its website, the college licences and regulates pharmacists and pharmacy technicians and the pharmacies where they practice, in order to provide the public with safe and ethical pharmacy care.
