Concerned by the existing working conditions of employed or owner pharmacists especially those in retail sector, experts are contemplating to push for a significant move that will help in setting benchmark for a flexible and employee friendly working environment.

This move comes in the wake of rising incidents of discontent among pharmacists over absence of any employee friendly policy and practices to spur their growth within the profession. As of now, pharmacists’ welfare issues such as fixing working hours, holidays, salary matters and most importantly long term benefits, on a national scale are not thought of seriously, as practiced globally.

Sources inform that this is not only leading to low esteem among the pharmacists but also is acting as a huge deterrent for many, especially women employees who have there own issues to handle. There are lot of challenges and issues a pharmacists face in the retail sector such as long working hours without any vacations, unattractive pay with hardly any other benefits, no incremental or vertical growth within an organisation, etc. These issues boil down to impact the reputation of the pharmacy as a professional choice for students.

Manjiri Gharat, vice-president and chairperson of the community pharmacy division (CPD), Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) stressed that it is high time for addressing these core issues so as to boost the confidence and pro-activeness among the community pharmacists. She added that considering the global scenario where pharmacists enjoy all the perks and benefits as available to any other profession, Indian pharmacists should also have a decent comfortable living in the current situation. HR guidelines or policies are need of the hour for the welfare of the pharmacists, she added.

“There is a innate need for setting standards for working pharmacists so that they can also work in a conducive and work friendly environment. Its not easy and simple, has many intricacies, but we need to begin somewhere. Understanding the importance, IPA is planning to take up this issue at national level after deliberating on finer points with other experts and stakeholders from the field following the IPA CPD convention that is soon going to flag off in Goa,” Gharat added.