Key Summary
- The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) Fitness to Practise Committee has directed the removal of Shyam Morjaria from the register.
- Morjaria oversaw hundreds of thousands of prescriptions, including high-risk, controlled, and addiction-forming medicines.
- Misconduct contributed to severe risks and overdoses involving vulnerable patients prescribed high-risk drugs including opioids, amitriptyline, and propranolol.
Former Superintendent Pharmacist Shyam Morjaria has been struck off the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) register following a fitness to practise hearing into systemic safety failures at online business UK Meds Direct Limited.
The Fitness to Practise Committee found Morjaria’s conduct violated many norms and concluded that his actions and oversights were fundamentally incompatible with continued registration as a pharmacist.
Between October 2018 and September 2021, Morjaria served as Superintendent Pharmacist (SI) and a director of UK Meds, alongside working as a Responsible Pharmacist (RP).
During his tenure as SI, he oversaw the prescribing of nearly 379,000 prescriptions for high-risk medicines, controlled drugs, and treatments requiring ongoing monitoring.
The tribunal found that UK Meds operated a "transactional" model that prioritised speed, volume, and commercial profit over patient-centred care and safety.
Prescriptions were routinely approved based primarily on online questionnaires without direct patient engagement, access to GP medical records, or adequate identity verification.
In tens of thousands of instances, prescribers reviewed and approved high-risk medication orders in under one minute - a timeframe the committee determined was impossible for conducting proper clinical evaluations or background checks.
Despite receiving multiple statutory Improvement Notices and a Notice of Conditions from GPhC inspectors between 2019 and 2020, Morjaria failed to implement required safety governance, audit structures, or risk assessments.
Instead of rectifying the deficiencies, UK Meds voluntarily removed itself from the GPhC register in September 2021.
Regulatory verdict
The panel reviewed detailed evidence involving vulnerable patients with histories of mental health issues, addiction, and self-harm who were able to obtain large quantities of high-risk medicines without GP knowledge or safety netting, leading to severe overdoses and fatalities.
Although Morjaria did not attend the hearing, he submitted written reflections expressing regret for patient harm and noting that he no longer intends to practise pharmacy.
The committee determined that Morjaria demonstrated limited insight, failed to exercise professional leadership, and showed an attitudinal failure by placing commercial objectives above patient safety.
An immediate interim suspension order was imposed pending the final coming into force of the removal order.
