TINJAUAN HUKUM TERHADAP PERLINDUNGAN HAK-HAK APOTEKER DALAM MENJALANKAN PROFESINYA

Pharmacists, as healthcare professionals, play a strategic role within the healthcare system, particularly in the provision of pharmaceutical services in community pharmacies. In carrying out their profession, pharmacists bear legal, ethical, and professional responsibilities to ensure the quality, safety, and appropriate use of medicines for the public. However, in practice, pharmacists are often placed in legally vulnerable positions, especially when dealing with pharmacy owners, patients, or other parties who do not understand or disregard the scope of pharmacists’ authority and professional obligations. Such conditions are reflected in various cases, including the criminalization of pharmacists performing their ethical duties and threats to occupational safety resulting from the refusal to dispense invalid prescriptions.

This study aims to analyze the legal framework governing the protection of pharmacists’ rights in the practice of pharmacy services in community pharmacies and to formulate an ideal regulatory framework to ensure adequate legal protection for pharmacists. The research employs a normative legal research method using statutory, conceptual, and case approaches. The legal materials consist of primary, secondary, and tertiary sources, which are analyzed qualitatively. The findings reveal that the protection of pharmacists’ rights under Law Number 17 of 2023 concerning Health and Government Regulation Number 28 of 2024 has not yet provided optimal legal protection. Existing provisions remain general in nature and do not specifically regulate the limits of authority, protection mechanisms, and guarantees of occupational safety for pharmacists in pharmaceutical practice. Therefore, more comprehensive and ideal regulations are required through the establishment of specific legal norms lex specialis, the strengthening of the role of professional organizations, and the development of technical regulations capable of ensuring legal certainty, professional protection, and a sense of security for pharmacists in carrying out their duties ethically and responsibly.