To press for their demands including immediate implementation of Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 (PPR-2015) in all the states and a rollback of the Union health ministry's decision to conduct refresher course for unqualified persons in medical shops, over 10,000 members of the Kerala Private Pharmacists Association (KPPA) will go on agitations, in two phases in the state.

The first phase of the agitation will be held in the northern districts of the state on January 18, and the second phase is on 25th in southern districts of the state.  The agitations will be conducted before the central government offices, and the slogan of the agitating pharmacists is ‘Save Life, Save Drugs’, said Galelio George, general secretary of KPPA.

Members from northern Kerala districts of Kasargodu, Kannur, Kozhikodu, Palakkadu, Wynadu, Malappuram and Thrissur, after taking out rallies in the cities in the morning, will march towards offices of income tax department, postal department, telephone exchanges, Door Darshan Kendra and All India Radio, on the 18th of this month. In southern districts (Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Kottayam and Idukki), the agitating pharmacists will move towards the offices on 25th. Office-bearers of the district committees in each district will lead the agitation.

Giving full support to the two days agitations by the private pharmacists, the secretary of the Pharmacist Society of Kerala, K R Dinesh Kumar said the government of Kerala should take steps to implement the PPR in the state and his association has given several memorandums to the government. He hailed the state pharmacy council for its efforts with the government for PPR implementation.

Expressing full solidarity with KPPA’s agitation, Sofiur Rehmankhan, president of Assam Registered Pharmacists Association (ARPA), said the reason for delay in implementing PPR in states is nothing but apathy of the ruling governments. In Assam, ARPA is holding discussions with other pharmacists groups for a joint agitation for the same demand.

Tamil Venden, chairman of the Tamil Nadu Pharmacist Awareness Organisation (TNPAO) has commented that all the pharmacists associations in the country should unite under one umbrella to achieve this goal. He said TNPAO members will send letters to the government requesting speedy implementation of the regulations.