Pharmacist receiving gifts from companies for prescribing their products

Question

I am working as a pharmacist in a big hospital. Our market is a generic market where the doctor prescribes the chemical name on the prescription rather than the brand name. The brand is selected by the pharmacist. The same medicine will be sold by different pharmaceutical companies under different brand names but will have the same chemical name. Example, the chemical paracetamol is in brand names like adol, calpol, panadol, tylenol, etc.

My question is that representatives from the pharmaceutical companies come to us and tell us that if we sell their company brand, they will give us some vouchers or a gift. Is taking this gift or voucher from the reps of the pharmaceutical companies allowed in Islam?

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee · Accepted Answer

If it is part of your duty to do the purchasing then it is not permissible to take anything in return, unless the hospital allows you to accept.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

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Q: I am a pharmacist and just dispensing the medicine. I am not ordering or purchasing any medicine. There are different people for that work.

A: If the hospital owners allow you to accept gifts and you dispense the medication only if you see that it is most appropriate for the patient then it is permissible. If you are dispensing the medication only on account of the gift then it is pure corruption and bribery.

And Allah Ta'ala (الله تعالى) knows best.

Answered by:

Mufti Ebrahim Salejee (Isipingo Beach)

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