The GPhC has struck off a pharmacist who was convicted of making illegal supplies of codeine linctus and promethazine after threats were made against him and his family.

On April 13-14 this year the GPhC’s fitness to practise committee considered the case of Kapil Ramesh Rabadia, a London-based pharmacist who first joined the register in 2011. In September 2021, Mr Rabadia was convicted of fraud by abuse of position and being concerned in supplying controlled drugs, having entered a guilty plea.

In May 2018, Mr Rabadia made an over the counter sale of codeine linctus and Phenergan to two men who came to the pharmacy where he was employed. The two men then “returned on at least three more occasions within a few weeks” and were refused by Mr Rabadia on the “third or fourth occasion” according to the GPhC report on the hearing.  

Following this, he was threatened on his way home by four men who told him to go on making supplies of codeine linctus and Phenergan or “there would be consequences” for him and his family.

They showed him the gun and knives they were carrying, and told him his wife and daughter were being watched; when he arrived home, he saw a hand waving at him from a car parked outside his house.

Large orders

Over a period of more than 12 months, Mr Rabadia continued ordering large quantities of codeine linctus and Phenergan for the men – they demanded more than 100 bottles of each on at least one occasion – and leaving them at the front of the pharmacy for them to collect.

In June 2019, he was approached by his employer who was concerned by these large orders. He initially claimed the supplies had been legitimate but then emailed his employer informing them of the coercion and his subsequent actions. In July that year he approached the police, who charged him on two counts.  

On April 25 2022, a judge presiding over a Newton hearing – held when a defendant pleads guilty but does not agree to the prosecution’s version of events – accepted that Mr Rabadia was “telling the truth about everything [he] had said” and gave him a 12-month sentence suspended for 18 months, as well as a 200-hour community service order. He has been suspended from the GPhC register on an interim basis for four years.

Insight into actions

Mr Rabadia told the FtP committee he “fully accepted” his actions were wrong and that he would behave differently if he faced the same situation today. He told the committee that if he was returned to the register he would wish to train as an independent prescriber and work in general practice.

The committee noted the positive testimonials to Mr Rabadia’s character and accepted that he had “shown a degree of insight into the harm he could have caused to the end users of the medication”.

However, it said it was “not completely satisfied” that he would behave differently in a similar situation in future, explaining: “The registrant’s criminal diversion of the medication continued for a lengthy period of over a year, and at no time during the whole of that period did he stop, reflect and make a decision to put a stop to it or report it to his employer or the police.”

The committee found he had breached fundamental principles of his profession. When considering penalties, it said a suspension “would not be sufficient to send out a clear message, both to practitioners and to the pubic, of the gravity of the findings in this case”. 

It ultimately decided to remove his name from the register with immediate effect.