Australia, Aug. 23 -- New South Wales Land and Environment Court issued text of the following judgement on July 23:

1. Pursuant to s 64(1)(a) of the Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2013 (NSW), the disclosure to any person or entity of the names of the patients and persons set out in the Schedule to the Amended Complaint is prohibited. For the avoidance of doubt this order does not preclude the disclosure or publication of the name of the applicant.

Introduction

2. The applicant, Mr Yoseph Akawee, brings this application pursuant to s 163 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) 2009 ("the National Law"), applying for an order that he be reinstated to his former registration as a pharmacist.

3. The respondent, the Health Care Complaints Commission of New South Wales ("HCCC"), appears pursuant to s 163C(4) of the National Law as contradictor to that application to make submissions on relevant factual matters, applicable legal principles, and costs, but in doing so it neither consented to nor opposed the application.

Delayed reasons

4. As noted at the hearing, these reasons have been delayed due to first, the failure of the applicant's legal representatives to provide a timely chronology, secondly an outline of submissions, and thirdly, the timely provision of transcript. All those factors were drawn to the attention of the applicant's legal representatives at the hearing on 10 February 2025 (T1; T49 - T50) and by written communication from the registry to the parties on 1 May 2025.

Jurisdiction

5. The undisputed jurisdictional power of this Tribunal to review the continuing appropriateness of the orders made on 3 August 2013 is founded upon the provisions of Division 8 of Part 8 of the National Law: s 163(1)(c).

Factual background

6. The applicant was first registered as a pharmacist in February 2018 following his graduation from the University of Sydney in December 2017 where he was admitted to the degree of Bachelor of Pharmacy. On 1 February 2018 he became registered with Ahpra.

7. The applicant's professional work history commenced with an internship at a Chemist Warehouse pharmacy at Rockdale in early 2018. In 2019 he worked as a pharmacist at Easy Script Compounding Pharmacy in St Marys. Between January and April 2020, he worked at Brunskill's Pharmacy in Mosman and in that period on weekends he worked at Abundance Pharmacy in Double Bay. In May 2020 he commenced work at Pharmacy 4 Less in Hornsby.

8. It was in that latter pharmacy that his professional difficulties occurred, culminating in his suspension from practice on 18 March 2021 during the course of a hearing by the delegates of the Pharmacy Council of New South Wales convened pursuant to s 150 of the National Law, following which he was deregistered on account of a Tribunal order made on 3 August 2023.

9. The reasons for his deregistration are set out in full in a published decision of the New South Wales Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) on 2 August 2023: Health Care Complaints Commission v Akawee [2023] NSWCATOD 115, at [83]-[94]. These reasons should be read in conjunction with those reasons.

10. In short summary, the applicant's offending professional misconduct which led to his deregistration occurred between October and December 2020. In that period he dispensed Schedule 8 drugs of addiction to some 10 persons, including an immediate family member, and "friends of friends" in circumstances where, alarmingly, the dispensed prescriptions of concern variously did not contain the names of the patient, the addresses of the patient, were not signed by a medical practitioner, and were, in parts, illegible. In those circumstances his professional behaviour can only be described as reckless.

*Rest of the document can be viewed at: (https://www.caselaw.nsw.gov.au/decision/1982a8cc193b9397c3972da8)

Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.