(a) No person shall operate a pharmacy or other facility dispensing prescriptions as identified in this section or be issued a pharmacy permit or other permit issued by the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy to facilities dispensing prescriptions unless an Arkansas-licensed pharmacist-in-charge is on duty in the drugstore or pharmacy a minimum of forty (40) hours per week or as otherwise provided in this chapter or by board regulation.

(b) In the absence of a licensed pharmacist, no one shall fill a prescription except a student serving as a graduate intern.

(c) If the owner of any pharmacy or other facility dispensing prescriptions as identified in this section fails to have on duty a licensed pharmacist-in-charge forty (40) hours per week or as otherwise provided in this chapter due to illness, death, resignation, or for any other reason, the owner shall within five (5) days notify the board of the fact and shall within thirty (30) days or such additional time at the discretion of the board either secure the services of a licensed pharmacist-in-charge or remove all prescription legend drugs and drug signs from the pharmacy or facility as identified in this section and cease to operate as a pharmacy or facility as identified in this section.

(d)

(1) The board shall provide by regulation for the issuance of permits for specialty pharmacies to which § 17-92-607 shall apply.

(2) The owners of specialty pharmacies shall have on duty a licensed pharmacist-in-charge whose minimum number of hours on duty shall be determined by board regulations regarding the nature of the pharmacy service provided.

(3) Specialty pharmacies dispensing prescriptions to in-house patients that are cared for on a twenty-four-hour-per-day basis must have a pharmacist on duty no less than forty (40) hours per week.

(4) The owners of specialty pharmacies shall abide by all provisions established for the employment of pharmacists in this chapter and board regulations.

(5) If the owner of any specialty pharmacy fails to have on duty a licensed pharmacist-in-charge as provided in subdivision (d)(2) or subdivision (d)(3) of this section due to illness, death, resignation, or for any other reason, the owner shall within five (5) days notify the board of the fact and shall within thirty (30) days, or such additional time as the board in its discretion may allow, either secure the services of a licensed pharmacist-in-charge or remove all prescription legend drugs and drug signs from the pharmacy and cease to operate the pharmacy.

(e) The board may provide by regulation for the issuance of hospital pharmaceutical permits to pharmacists employed in hospitals under which the pharmacist-in-charge employed in a hospital may have a flexible schedule of attendance and to which the requirement of a licensed pharmacist-in-charge on duty for a minimum of forty (40) hours a week shall not apply.

(f) The board shall provide for the issuance of ambulatory care center pharmaceutical services permits to entities so licensed by the Department of Health and that shall employ a licensed pharmacist-in-charge as provided by board regulation.

(g) The board shall provide by regulation for the issuance of institutional pharmacy permits to governmentally funded institutions that provide inpatient pharmaceutical services to persons confined to such institutions or in which drugs are administered to inpatients on orders of practitioners authorized by law to prescribe or administer the drugs and to which the requirement that the licensed pharmacist-in-charge on duty for a minimum of forty (40) hours a week shall not apply.

(h) The board may provide by regulation for the issuance of charitable clinic pharmacy permits to clinics operated on a nonprofit basis to furnish medical and dental care to poor and underprivileged persons and in which drugs are dispensed or administered to such persons on orders or prescriptions of practitioners authorized by law to prescribe or administer the drugs and to which the requirement of a licensed pharmacist-in-charge on duty for a minimum of forty (40) hours a week shall not apply.