Pharmacists are not Doctors – Medical Association Condemns EOC Ruling

The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) has slammed a recent ruling by the Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) tribunal, which allows pharmacists to refer to themselves as doctors.

Speaking to the media at Mulago, Kampala, the president of UMA Dr. Herbert Luswata stated that this ruling contradicts the Ministry of Health’s expert guidance on job specifications and requirements for healthcare professionals.

He adds that the EOC tribunal’s decision demonstrates a misunderstanding of the qualifications required for leadership roles in hospitals, particularly the distinction between pharmacists and medical doctors. According to Luswata, UMA is worried that this ruling could compromise the standards of medical practice in Uganda and potentially put patients at risk.

“The EOC tribunal miss understood and made wrong comparisons in qualifications where they thought that the qualifications of other health care providers are equivalent to a bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery which is wrong and used this wrong assumption to make their rulling”. Herbert Luswata said.

Luswata ssys that UMA has requested the Ministry of Health and the Attorney General to appeal the EOC tribunal’s ruling in the High Court to safeguard the practices of medical doctors and ensure that Ugandans receive standard medical services in line with World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations and policies.