Pharmacy Law, Ethics and Professional Regulation
Pharmacy Law, Ethics and Professional Regulation tests Cambodian drug law, licensing, controlled substances and professional conduct. The exam expects you to distinguish legal requirements from good practice and to apply them to realistic pharmacy scenarios.
Core rules
- Cambodia regulates drugs through national drug law and Ministry of Health structures, including the drug regulatory authority. Manufacturing, import, export, distribution and dispensing require appropriate authorisation.
- Pharmacies must operate under a valid licence, with qualified supervision, suitable premises and records. Prescription-only medicines should not be supplied without a lawful prescription.
- Controlled substances require stricter procurement, storage, dispensing and record-keeping, with secure storage and accountability.
- Professional ethics include confidentiality, competence, avoiding conflicts of interest and reporting unsafe products or serious adverse events.
Worked example
A community pharmacy finds expired amoxicillin capsules. Correct action: remove them from saleable stock immediately, quarantine and label them, record quantity and expiry, and arrange destruction through approved channels with documentation. Returning them to the shelf “for later” or selling at a discount is unlawful and unsafe.
Traps
- Assuming a foreign pharmacy licence or registration is valid in Cambodia.
- Dispensing antibiotics without a prescription because the patient requests them.
- Failing to document controlled-drug receipts and returns.
- Disclosing patient information without consent or legal authority.