The decision of the government of Jharkhand to constitute a registration tribunal for giving fresh registrations to pharmacists in the state based only on experience and without the required educational qualification has caused a flutter in the country's pharmacist community. The new state government's decision to set up a registration tribunal is in line with the existing provisions of the Pharmacy Act which allows such a tribunal formation and granting of registration based on experience. The section 31 of the Pharmacy Act entitles any person from a new state with five years of experience for being registered as a pharmacist. But the first register in a state is prepared when there are no registered pharmacists in the state. In the case of Jharkhand, there are already a few thousands of registered pharmacists practising in the state besides those who are in the service of the state health department. The pharmacists in the Jharkhand government service were earlier in the service of the Bihar government. A similar situation is likely to emerge in the two other newly formed states like Uttaranchal and Chattisgarh as well soon. The pharmacist community all over the country is obviously concerned about these developments, as the registration tribunals in the new states will provide an easy access to a large number of unqualified persons to register themselves as registered pharmacists.
Some senior professional pharmacists have approached the court to stop the whole process in Jharkhand as it could lead to a huge migration of unqualified persons into the pharmacy profession of the country. As the formation of registration tribunal is as per the Pharmacy Act, a court can only grant an interim injunction. What is required to be done now is a modification or deletion of the section 31 by amending the Pharmacy Act without any delay. In fact, the pharmacists have been demanding this amendment to the Act for some years now. Pharmacy Council of India had made diploma in pharmacy as the basic qualification to be registered as a pharmacist some time ago. Subsequently, a fresh education regulation (ER 2001), stipulating a degree in pharmacy as the minimum qualification for registration as a pharmacist had also been issued. This regulation is yet to be implemented, as there is a strong opposition to the move from the colleges running diploma courses and also from the pharmaceutical trade. ER 2001 was drafted considering the challenging role required to be played by a pharmacist in the emerging industry and hospital environment in the years to come. And by no means, a dilution to this minimum standard of the pharmacy profession should be allowed.