The Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI), Indian Hospital Pharmacist Association (IHPA), Indian Pharmacy Graduates Association (IPGA) and All India Drugs Control Officers Confederation (AIDCOC) have jointly refuted the views expressed by Subodh P Priolkar, president of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) on the functioning of the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress Association (IPCA) and the remarks he made against the other IPCA constituents.

In response to the views expressed by Subodh P Priolkar, president of IPA in a recent interview published in Pharmabiz, Ravi Uday Bhaskar, secretary general, AIDCOC and spokesperson on behalf of the constituent associations, noted that IPA, which claims having 11,000 membership, seems to have forgotten that majority of these IPA members are actually the members of the four constituents. If the members of the four constituents disassociate from IPA, it will have only one fourth of the total member strength it currently claims.

The four constituents also condemned Priolkar’s remarks that these associations are not publishing audited annual results, not conducting state and central elections and on the number of programmes conducted by the four constituents in a year. The constituents asked on what basis can IPA doubt the leadership of the four constituents, and even if certain members are repeatedly being elected to spearhead each of these constituents, it proves the continued trust of the members on these elected members. The elected members of any of the four constituents have never treated these organizations as ‘personal properties.’

SW Deshpande, president, AIDCOC and BG Shivananda, general secretary, APTI have also denied the IPA president’s claims that he has personally met them and suggested 50 per cent of the profits should remain with the Local Organising Committee (LoC) and the remaining 50 per cent could be divided equally among the IPCA constituents. The 50 per cent formula was only mentioned in the meeting that was held on August 20, 2005 at Hyderabad. That too was an idea and was not pursued for a concrete decision, they say.

IPA has been establishing trusts after each IPCs held in the country and till date these trusts haven’t been able to achieve anything substantial for the profession of pharmacy. The LoCs and IPA branches handling each IPCs have no access to the funds held by these Trusts. Only the Trust that was established in Chennai utilized funds for the profession. Majority of the funds are being utilized to meet travel expenses, accommodation and hospitality, during each IPCs. While the four constituent members wanted Bangalore as the venue for 57th IPC, IPA demanded it should be held in Hyderabad. The venue was decided against the wishes of the four constituents, they accuse.

IPC should be organized for the benefit of both the industry and pharmacy students. If pharmacy graduates are discouraged to visit or take part in the event, how are they going to learn about the industry, and how are the industry and trade going to get quality candidates with industry exposure and knowledge, they question.

IPCA has been passing resolutions after each IPC in the past, and hasn’t succeeded in implementing any of these key resolutions. During the last couple of years, IPA has started dictating the terms and taking the decisions by virtue of its superior lop-sided voting strength. The other constituents have no option except to endorse the decisions, despite different views.

The four constituents together are keen to make the IPC an event, which will focus on both the opportunities for Indian pharma industry within the country and in the international markets. Public health and consumer benefit should be the motto. APTI, IHPA, IPGA and AIDCOC want to give a new dimension to the conduct of IPC, Bhaskar added.

The associations also clarified that they don’t intend to disturb the 57th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC) by any means. He said a joint letter was also submitted to the IPCA president VC Nannapaneni on these issues. Despite repeated written communications to the chairman of IPCA review committee, the status remained the same.