The Delhi Pharmacy Council (DPC) has canceled a total of 10, 000 registrations of pharmacists as most of them have not responded to the repeated correspondences from the Council for renewal of registrations.

This is primarily attributed to the fact that pharmacists have not updated their respective professional addresses with the council as a large number of them have joined either the pharma industry or have gone abroad in search of greener pastures.

According to SL Nasa, registrar, DPC, "The council has done 24, 175 registrations since 1949 of which 10,000 registrations have been canceled on account of non-renewals, pharmacist's transfer to other states, professional compulsion, death and in some cases lack of official correspondences on the part of pharmacist. Cancellation have been done because the council did not receive due response on the letters sent to the candidates for renewals."

As per the details shared by DPC, a fee of Rs. 500 is charged one time for five years by DPC for the registration and 900 pharmacists are registered annually on an average. Nasa reasons out that many of the pharmacists might have joined the pharma industry in various capacities and even gone abroad to pursue advanced studies and hence have failed to update their addresses with the council.

This comes at a time when DPC also requires pharmacy inspectors in each of its nine districts for implementation of the Pharmacy Act. Argues Nasa, "DPC is awaiting approval on the same from the state government for the past six years. Now that Delhi is under President's rule, we are waiting for the new state government to address the issue of regulation deficit regime prevailing in Delhi for more than a decade in a more pragmatic way."

State pharmacy councils are empowered to appoint pharmacy inspectors with the prior sanction of the state government as per Section 26 A of the Pharmacy Act. Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) also mandates there should be one pharmacist for three doctors. Experts, however, argue that proper planning and execution of the policies with regard to appointment of inspectors are not being taken up properly because of the duplication of activities and responsibilities entailed by the Pharmacy Act and D&C Act respectively.