Australia took 10 years to do it but they finally revokes license of pharmacist for recklessly dispensing anabolic steroids.
Chetan Hegde, the owner of the Australian pharmacy known as McKenzies Chemist in Perth, literally filled thousands of prescriptions for high-dosage anabolic steroids protocols over a 16-month period according to an investigation by the Pharmacy Board of Australia. Hegde’s “intensive and voluminous” dispensing of steroids occurred between January 2008 and April 2009.
Yet, the Pharmacy Board of Australia took over seven years before it formally initiated administrative proceedings in 2017. And another three years lapsed before the Board found Hegde guilty of “professional misconduct in haphazardly dispensing prescriptions for anabolic steroids” in August 2020.
The Perth pharmacist’s license was revoked but he can re-apply in three years.
The State Administrative Tribunal penalized Hegde by striking his name from the register of licensed pharmacists in Australia. Hegde will be eligible to re-register in 2023.
The investigation found that Hegde primarily worked with two physicians. The doctors prescribed anabolic steroids for 93 percent of the scripts filled by Hegde.
The dosages prescribed were not even close to any recognized therapeutic range for testosterone replacement therapy or any other indicated medical use. In other words, the steroids appeared to be dispensed specifically for bodybuilding reasons.
For example, Hegde dispensed 152 Sustanon ampules for one customer during a single visit. The customer presented four prescriptions from four different doctors. Hegde did not have any problem with this.
In another example, Hedge dispensed 14.8 to maximum therapeutic steroid dosage for another customer.
The Tribunal questioned Hegde’s competence and skill as a pharmacist when he was unable to satisfactorily explain why he dispensed such large quantities of steroids that placed his customers at risk.
Even though Hegde’s misconduct occurred over 10 years ago, the Tribunal felt it was still necessary to send a message. The Tribunal believed the public was still at risk from such an irresponsible and reckless professional and needed to be protected from Hegde.