21-07-2025
- Health
- Winnipeg Free Press
Pharmacist punished for leaving bag of drugs at fast-food outlet
A Winnipeg pharmacist has been disciplined and fined for giving an unmarked bag containing unlabelled prescription drugs to a restaurant employee, who was supposed to hold it for the patient.
The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba placed Hajra Mirza on a 12-month suspension and fined her $20,000, plus $130,000 for the cost of its investigation into the case that dates back to 2019. The decision was released last week.
In June 2019, the college received a police report that alleged Mirza left the drugs with an employee at a Dairy Queen to be retrieved by an associate of the patient.
The decision said that around June 14, Mirza was contacted by a patient, whose name is redacted in the decision, regarding pain and fever-like symptoms following dental surgery.
Mirza advised the patient to contact a nurse practitioner, who prescribed Tylenol #3 with codeine, naproxen and clindamycin.
The prescriptions were faxed to the Rossmere Pharmacy on Henderson Highway, which Mirza part-owned at the time, but the pharmacy was closed.
Mirza drove to the pharmacy, bottled the medication and left the unlabelled bottles of drugs with an employee at the nearby fast-food outlet.
'Failing to enter the prescriptions properly put patient safety at risk.'– excerpt from ruling by the College of Pharmacists of Manitoba
When the individual came to pick up the drugs the DQ owners wouldn't hand them over and called police.
'Mirza returned to the DQ, and the police escorted her to the pharmacy, where the medications were labelled. The police then delivered the medications,' the decision said.
The ruling doesn't explain why Mirza gave the drugs to a fast-food worker.
The decision said Mirza's actions contravened several requirements, including ensuring all drugs are secured against theft, loss or diversion, that they are labelled correctly and that drugs not be dispensed unless a prescription record is made.
'Failing to enter the prescriptions properly put patient safety at risk. Mirza missed an allergy warning on… patient screen that (the patient) had previously had a negative reaction to clindamycin,' the decision said.
Mirza was given a one-year suspension but was granted credit for 10 months, the length of time she had voluntarily surrendered her licence.
The investigation found faults with Rossmere Pharmacy, including that patients files were stored in a public place and the narcotic safe was left wide open.
The decision noted Mirza was disciplined in 2012 while working as a pharmacist in British Columbia.
She was handed a 30-day licence suspension and fined $3,000 after the College of Pharmacists of British Columbia found she had prepared a 'fraudulent employment document' under the letterhead and purported signature of her current employer which she submitted to a prospective employer.
Nicole BuffieMultimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College's Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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