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The Kerala Government Pharmacists Association (KGPA) has raised a fierce note of dissent against the newly released second draft of the National Pharmacy Commission (NPC) Bill, 2026, warning that the proposed framework systematically sidelines the very professionals responsible for dispensing medicines on the ground.
Highlighting the critical vulnerabilities within the legislative draft issued by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the association voiced deep apprehensions over the complete exclusion of working pharmacists from the apex governance structure. This structural omission has sparked massive anxiety across the healthcare corridors of Kerala, a state renowned for its rigorous public health delivery infrastructure.
At the center of the brewing controversy is Premanandan, the president of KGPA, who has issued an urgent directive to major national apex bodies, including the Federation of Indian Pharmacists Organizations (FIPO) and the All India Pharmacists Association (AIPA). Premanandan has strongly demanded that these apex national organizations mount a unified, uncompromising front to oppose the very introduction of the National Pharmacy Commission Bill in its current form. The KGPA leadership insists that a coordinated, pan-India petition must be submitted immediately to pressure the central government into fundamentally redesigning the administrative structure before the one-month public consultation window lapses.
A primary grievance cited by the practicing pharmacists of Kerala is the glaring lack of diverse practice representation and the profound sense of industry dominance embedded within the draft provisions. The association points out that the current composition of the proposed commission is overwhelmingly weighted toward corporate manufacturing titans, industrial lobbyists, Ministry officials, NIPER directors, and university academicians. This corporate skew completely isolates the actual, frontline reality of healthcare delivery, allowing industrial priorities to eclipse the clinical, regulatory, and ethical responsibilities of dispensing chemists who manage direct patient care day in and day out.
The KGPA emphasizes that the pharmacy profession cannot be narrowly defined by manufacturing facilities and academic institutions alone, as its vital operational core resides within hospital wards, public dispensaries, and retail setups. Pharmacists serving tirelessly across crucial public networks, such as state government hospitals, primary health centres (PHCs), community health centres (CHCs), and highly utilized central setups like CGHS, ESIC, AIIMS, Railways, and the Armed Forces, currently possess zero direct representation within the proposed commission. Without establishing mandatory, legally reserved seats for these practicing dispensing professionals, the regulatory body will remain decoupled from grassroots public healthcare dynamics.
In addition to this, the KGPA demands that the traditional systems of medicine be completely excluded from the NPC through the independent establishment of separate, dedicated councils. To preserve India’s constitutional federal principles, the association additionally asserts that state-level governance must not be undermined; the central commission must feature democratically nominated representatives from individual State Pharmacy Councils and state governments rather than relying solely on central selection.
According to Premanandan, this structural anxiety is made worse by a severe legal mistake because the new bill weakens or leaves out rules similar to Section 42 of the original Pharmacy Act of 1948. Section 42 has long stood as the non-negotiable legal shield of Indian pharmacy, strictly stipulating that no person other than a legally registered and licensed pharmacist is permitted to compound, mix, or dispense medicines on a medical prescription. The KGPA warned that enacting the NPC Bill without this robust, explicitly stated criminal penalty mechanism will effectively open the floodgates for unqualified, untrained individuals to distribute critical medications, putting national patient safety at extreme risk.
Premanandan reiterated that the grassroots workforce will not accept an institutional overhaul that merely reshuffles the old guard while leaving practicing professionals voiceless.
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