Health Ministry has virtually turned down the proposal by the Chemicals Department to train the unqualified salespersons in pharmacy stores, which also drew flaks from the experts in the pharmacy field.

The Chemicals Ministry, with a view to ensure better dispensation of medicines in stores, had mooted the idea in the face of shortage of pharmacists sometime back. However, the health ministry which is the administrative ministry, was not very much enthused by the proposal and it was unlikely to be accepted, sources said.

Though Chemicals Minister Ram Vilas Paswan first mooted laws to ensure that only qualified people dispense drugs in stores, his department later toned down to propose training at basic levels to unqualified persons in the counters to meet the rising demand and also to reduce mistakes.

Health ministry reportedly maintained that the move was against the spirit of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. No pharmacy can run without a pharmacist and anybody who was not a pharmacist should not be dispensing drugs in the first place, according to the stand of the Health department.

Meanwhile the experts have also raised concerns on the move to train the unskilled salespersons in the pharmacies. They have called for more pharmacy colleges, more salaries and loans to pharmacists to open drug stores instead of giving crash training courses.

According to veteran in the field Prafull D Sheth, such a proposal was a `retrograde step'. ``On the one hand, you say salesmen are not expected to dispense medicines and a pharmacist has to be on duty throughout as per law. On the other hand, such a training will imply that someone else is qualified enough to hand out medicines,'' he felt.

"Make CDSCO and State drug control agencies very strong and stop issuing drug selling licences to non-pharmacists owners. Improve public health system with support of pharmacist and good quality of medicines and make profession of pharmacy very strong by opening new pharmacy colleges and providing periodical training to community and hospital pharmacists,'' suggested B E Khomne.

``If at all there is such a move to impart the training to sales person working in medical stores, then it is really unfortunate and your priorities are definitely going to ruin the profession of pharmacy. We fear that this step will make back door entry for the non-pharmacist people to run the drug stores,'' he said in a letter to the authorities.

As per reports, the demand for pharmacists is expected to double from 100,000 currently to roughly 200,000 in just five years. However, at present the educational institutions have only 25,000 seats. And most of the trained pharmacists opt for jobs with drug makers, more than low-salaried jobs in the stores.

The proposal to give 45 days training in local pharmacy colleges was welcomed by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) which has been holding similar training sessions at their own levels. The Organization claimed that the law stipulated that the drugs should be sold under the supervision of a pharmacist and the salesmen could be trained to meet the shortage of qualified people.