All constituent bodies of Indian Pharmaceutical Congress Association (IPCA) barring Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) have registered strong protest against the failure of IPCA leaders ‘to bring about consensus and restore democracy in the functioning of IPCA’.
IPCA is the organizer of ‘Indian Pharmaceutical Congress’, the biggest annual event of pharmacy profession in the country.
In a written plea to V C Nannapaneni, President IPCA, the constituent members of Indian Pharmacy Graduates Association (IPGA), Indian Hospital Pharmacists Association (IHPA), Association of Pharmacy Teachers of India (APTI) and All India Drug Control Officers Confederation (AIDCOC) threatened to discontinue their association with IPCA if the overall situation continues to be ‘unfriendly and downright hostile’. The associations have hinted that they might consider legal recourse in order to rectify the situation.
The associations complain that IPA, the biggest partner association in IPCA, is showing a total disregard to the opinion of the four constituents on the need to bring in proper democratic functioning of IPCA. They wanted the president to take immediate steps to urgently implement parity in the voting rights of the different constituents and bring in accountability in the functioning of the IPCA. They have also pointed out that by failing to do so, IPCA is violating the clauses of Memorandum of Articles of IPCA. The junior members of IPCA have also been given a deadline to the official panel to find an early solution to the problem. The four associations had taken the decision to seek the help of IPCA president following the failure of the IPCA review committee to resolve the issue amicably.
As pharmabiz had reported earlier, the recommendations of the committee was to allow representation in IPCA in accordance with the membership strength of the respective associations. The dissenting members were of the view that all the five-member organizations should get equal representation, as all the five associations are equally responsible for the conduct of IPC.
They were also opposed to the higher membership claims of IPA as the association has both pharmacy as well as non-pharmacy professionals as its members. “All other constituent bodies other than IPA are purely professional bodies that permit only qualified pharma professionals as its members. Since IPC is the event of the pharma professionals of the country, the professional organisations should have equal rights over the conduct of the programme,” the dissenting associations opine.
Currently, IPA dominates IPCA with 8 members as the representation for other associations is limited to only 2 members each. (Apart from this, 5 members from the Local Organizing Committee (LoC) of each year's IPC venue also qualify as IPCA members). The members also disagreed with the proposal of the committee to allow IPA to take the lead in conducting IPC on every alternate year, and allow others to conduct the show on a rotation basis in alternate years. The suggestion for benefit sharing was also not accepted.
According to members of the dissenting associations, there cannot be a solution unless the issues of providing equal representation on the Council to all constituents, equal sharing of surplus funds generated after conducting IPC and an opportunity to each constituent to host IPC by rotation are solved.
Responding to pharmabiz query, the LoC members of 57th IPC, planned in Hyderabad in December, said that the internal problems are not going to affect the conduct of the show. “The 57th IPC will have the support of all constituent members. However, the conflict, if not solved may affect the chances of future programmes,” they said.