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Heralding a slew of measures to upskill the pharmacist community in Tamil Nadu, ‘Pharmacists Winning Team’, a panel contesting in the state pharmacy council election, supported by the Chemists and Druggists Association (TN CDA), has assured to the registered pharmacists that they will create sufficient job avenues for the Pharm D graduates as well as for the degree holders.
“The knowledge and skill of the Pharm D personnel are not properly used by the healthcare sector because of lack of opportunities. If our panel comes to power, we will definitely create opportunities for the doctoral pharmacy graduates”, said S Balaji, panel convener and executive committee member of the AIOCD and TN CDA.
Announcing five-point promises for the working and unemployed pharmacists, Balaji who is also a candidate in the election, told Pharmabiz that the panel wants to introduce a welfare scheme like insurance coverage for the registered pharmacists and their families. His panel consists of academic experts, regulatory officers and pharmaceutical traders. All the pharmacists, whether they are employed or not, are eligible for the benefit of the scheme. Pharmacy council will pay the premium for the insurance of the pharmacists.
Secondly, upskilling programs will be conducted every month to improve the pharmacists’ professional skills and to equip them with new knowledge and standards in the healthcare system. This programme will be conducted from Taluk level to state level. Training programmes will be held both for the hospital pharmacists and for the community pharmacists.
Thirdly, to tap the potential of the Pharm D graduates in Tamil Nadu, the state pharmacy council will design some programs associating with Tamil Nadu hospital management association and the drug manufacturers association. Further, the council will take up their problems with the government by formally presenting their concerns, and recommend creating a Clinical Pharmacist post and Drug Information Officer in the government health sector. Similarly, a proposal will be given to the government to start Pharm D course in government pharmacy colleges.
The fourth promise of the Pharmacists Winning Team is that they will discuss with the government to utilise the potential of the M Pharm and B Pharm graduates separately for the healthcare deliveries. For this, special meetings will be held with the government and the whole healthcare industry stakeholders. Jobs for M Pharm and for B Pharm will be decided separately in the hospital settings.
And the fifth promise is that pharmacists’ role will be established for a holistic healthcare delivery system with doctors and nurses. In the healthcare division, doctors’ and nurses’ roles are included, but pharmacists’ roles are not included. TN SPC will try to address this issue. This will raise the dignity of the pharmacy professionals in the society also.
When asked what is the strategy of the panel to attract voters, Balaji said 40 per cent out of the 1,10,000 registered pharmacists (voters) enrolled in the register of the council are members of the TNCDA. Apart from this, about 10,000 pharmacists are the former students of the CL Baid Metha College of Pharmacy owned by TNCDA. About 10 percent of the pharmacists in the list are either dead or working outside of the country. So, hundred percent victory is there for the TN CDA panel, and every chemist in the state is working for the victory of their panel.
To another query, whether they will allow J Jayaseelan, the present president of the council, to continue in the position, Balaji said definitely they will allow him to complete his term as he is from the industry side and supporting TN CDA.
According to S Ramesh, president of the TN CDA, the Pharmacists Winning Team will enjoy a sweeping victory in the council election, and for that the association has started campaigns among pharmacists in all the districts. He said majority of the registered pharmacists in the TN SPC are TN CDA members.
The candidates of the Winning Team 2025 are from academic side Dr N Deattu and Dr. T Sivakumar, from Regulatory side Dr S Revikumar and MP Muralikrishanan, and from trade sector NK Nagendra Prasad and S Balaji.
In almost all the state pharmacy council elections in the country, the chemists and druggists associations take a dominant role in fielding candidates, and it is learnt that AIOCD has given direction to each state unit to capture the power of the state councils.
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