BY SAM ALFAN .
The chairperson of Pharmacy and Poisons Board Dr Charles Githinji has clarified that he is not a doctor or dentist but a registered pharmacist.
In response to a case filed at the High Court seeking his removal from the post, Dr Githinji maintained that he could not be subjected to disciplinary by Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board.
Dr Githinji said in response to the petition filed by lawyer Apollo Mboya that he challenged the decision by the board to fine him Sh27,000 for gross misconduct and for acting beyond his calling.
The board had slapped him with the fine following the death of a minor, after allegedly failing to take his medical history, leading to improper diagnosis and inappropriate prescription.
He was also fined for masquerading as medical practitioner, engaging in diagnostic and curative services, but he says the findings were quashed by the High Court.
“That the said decision was and remains a nullity in law and any cause of action (like the present) one sought to be premised on such a nullity, is a nullity in itself,” says Dr Githinji.
Mboya moved to court seeking to quash the appointment of Dr Githinji, made on January 20, 2023 as the chairperson of the board.
Dr Githinji, however, said he challenged the board’s decision after arguing that he was not a doctor or a dentist but a registered pharmacist and was therefore, not subject to the disciplinary jurisdiction of the board.
He further that the High Court ruled that the Medical Practitioners and Dentist Board decision was ultra vires in that it exceeded its rightful jurisdiction.
According to Dr Githinji, the findings and holdings by the court is clear beyond doubt that the Board went beyond its jurisdiction when it purported to sit and determine a complaint against him.
He says that the conviction by the KMPD Board on which the suit is solely premised, no longer exist rendering the entire petition a still-birth.
Dr Githinji further states that court was never called to investigate or determine his professional suitability and there is a clear and wide distinction between professional negligence and professional misconduct.
