Three Manitoba pharmacists disciplined

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This article was published 30/06/2025 (421 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg pharmacist has been sanctioned after he was caught pilfering pills for years to feed his drug addiction.

The College of Pharmacists of Manitoba handed Scott Putz, 39, an 18-month suspension and fined him $15,000, plus $10,000 for the cost of its investigation into him, for stealing stimulant pills.

The regulatory body doled out the decision earlier this year, following a hearing in December last year.

Putz pleaded guilty to stealing the drugs, falsifying information by processing fraudulent prescriptions, taking non-prescribed pills while working and failing to admit to the college he had an addiction that could interfere with his ability to practice.

On March 22, 2021, the pharmacy manager at a pharmacy where Putz worked was made aware of a discrepancy in the inventory of dextroamphetamine, then found a different drug was in the bottle in stock, the regulatory decision said.

The manager then found the most recent prescription for the drug had been processed after hours, was unpaid for and did not have a valid prescription. Putz had initialled the prescription.

“Upon further investigation and after questioning Mr. Putz (the manager) found other prescriptions for amphetamine products which gave rise to similar concerns, and suspected that Mr. Putz was participating in fraudulent activity,” the decision said.

The pharmacy suspended his employment and contacted the regulatory college over concerns Putz had been diverting drugs.

On March 24, 2021, Putz admitted to college officials he processed invalid prescriptions for controlled drugs, removed the drugs and took them.

“Mr. Putz admitted that he had been engaging in this conduct for approximately three to four years, and advised that he was suffering from substance abuse issues,” said the decision.

The college suspended his pharmacist licence that same day.

Putz took a treatment program at the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba later in 2021 and has continued to attend counselling and sobriety meetings since, the decision said.

The Winnipeg Police Service charged Putz with fraud over $5,000 over the pill thefts in 2021, said police spokesman Const. Stephen Spencer, and the matter has been adjudicated by the courts.

Later, the regulatory college’s staff investigator looked into Putz’s fraud and provided a report to college officials in May last year. The matter then went to the college’s discipline committee.

On top of the suspension and fines, Putz’s licence will have restrictions for the next five years.

The restrictions dictate that he can’t be a pharmacy manager or supervisor, he can’t work without another person present, he must attend counselling, submit to random drug and alcohol screening, advise any pharmacy that employs him that it must count all narcotics monthly, and advise the pharmacy manager at his workplace of the restrictions.

Putz was given credit for the 17 months his licence was suspended on an interim basis from 2021 to 2023.

The College of Pharmacists also recently disciplined a pharmacist who mixed up a fentanyl prescription. That decision was released in December.

The pharmacist, Mitesh Patel, pleaded guilty. A CancerCare doctor had prescribed fentanyl lollipops, but another pharmacist mistakenly prepared fentanyl patches for pickup.

The patches, if used by a patient who had not developed a tolerance, could have proven dangerous or even fatal, said the decision.

Patel, who was working as a relief pharmacist, was on duty when the patient picked up the prescription. He admitted that if he had reviewed the prescription or talked with the patient, the other pharmacist’s errors would have been caught.

He was fined $1,500 and ordered to pay $3,000 in costs.

A third pharmacist, Soeb Ekghaunwala, was disciplined in January this year for an error that caused a kidney-transplant patient to go without medication meant to keep their body from rejecting the transplant for more than two months.

The patient had to undergo a number of procedures to save the kidney.

In 2021, he signed off on the prescriptions as having been from a doctor at St. Boniface Hospital, when the doctor was actually at Health Sciences Centre.

When the patient needed a prescription refill a year later and Ekghaunwala no longer worked at the pharmacy, the pharmacy sent the request to St. Boniface.

When HSC followed up with the patient, the patient said they hadn’t taken the medication for more than two months, said the college’s decision.

The college decision noted Ekghaunwala, who has shown “great remorse,” was in a stressful situation at the time while the owner of the pharmacy was away on a medical leave.

He took over the role of pharmacy manager without sufficient training or guidance, said the decision, and had lost a family member and was unable to properly grieve amid the then-heights of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ekghaunwala was also disciplined for failing to take all reasonable steps to prevent the loss or theft of certain controlled drugs.

He was fined $3,500, plus ordered to pay $4,000 for costs.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca