The All India Government and Private sector Pharmacist Association (AIGPPA), the newly floated national body of pharmacists in the country, will coordinate with all the unorganised private sector pharmacist associations in the country and bring them under one umbrella for national unity. It will conduct a national conference and mass rally in the national capital in April next year to uphold the unity of the Indian pharmacy professionals. “The unorganized private sector pharmacists in India, those from Kashmir to Kanyakumari and from Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh, will be organized and united under one panel to strengthen the pharmacy profession and the professional community irrespective of government or private sector. Today the pharmacists are fragmented, they need to be united”, says Viswanathan Thankachan, working president of AIGPPA. In an online interview with Pharmabiz, Thankachan, a former pharmacy officer at the government department in Kerala, said the recently concluded first Delegates Council of the AIGPPA at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala, the association chalked out some strategies to unite the fragmented community of private pharmacists. He said the private sector pharmacists are struggling due to lack of a national association and becoming marginalised. Although there are a lot of associations of pharmacists in every state, there is no unity among them, and no strong body to lead them. He pointed out that if there is an association of pharmacists at the national level to guide them, the community pharmacists can work together to improve the community healthcare. According to Thankachan, in several foreign countries, organisations of community pharmacists join together to tackle health issues. As far as Indian community pharmacists are concerned, a large number of their associations are the hurdle for their unity, and the situation affects the welfare of the professionals. However, pharmacist associations are strong in the government sector, but they are working for the protection of the employees and their service conditions. Besides, they are guided by political parties. But, even in the government sector also, there is no national body comprising all state employees’ organizations. AIGPPA desires to unite both the government and the private associations to become a strong national body of Indian pharmacists. Thankachan said 17 states now have branches of the new association. Pointing to the remuneration side of the private pharmacists, the association’s view is that the nature of the job of a pharmacist, whether he is a government employee or private employee, is the same, but the wage the private pharmacist earns is very poor compared to the government servant. Minimum wage for a pharmacist has to be fixed in a unified manner at the national level. The private sector pharmacists’ services are available in community pharmacies, hospital pharmacies and in certain health institutions, but they have no job security. This is an area AIGPPA wants to highlight at the national level. In the case of pharmacy education, the association wants some amendments and reforms in the curriculum of all courses. According to Thankachan, the degree course in pharmacy (B Pharm) is currently focused on industry and not the clinical side. He says that a pharmacist, whether he is diploma holder or graduate in pharmacy, he should dispense medicine at least for a short period to become a pharmacist. “How can we call a pharmacy graduate working in an industry pharmacist if he does not know how to dispense the medicines to patients ? So, the curriculum of the degree course should be made in such a way that should suit both the clinical side and the industry side, by avoiding exclusivity. The national body will conduct a national conference and rally in New Delhi in the month of April 2025, in which pharmacists from all the states and union territories will assemble. Prior to that, state branches of AIGPPA will be formed incorporating existing associations in each state. AIGPPA will work as a confederation of all associations, especially of private pharmacists. He said four zonal committees have been formed to strengthen the activities for the national conference.
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