For the first time in India, all the pharmacists and pharmacy associations in the country will celebrate a Day for themselves on September 25 like those of Nurses Day and Doctors day, according to various state associations of IPA and state pharmacy councils.

From this year onwards, the Day will be observed every year as the Pharmacists Day. The decision to observe September 25 as Pharmacist Day was taken by the combined meeting of the presidents and the registrars of state pharmacy councils across the country held in New Delhi on April 15, and was approved by the general council of the PCI in its Ootty meeting on August 20, this year.

The day, September 25, is being observed as the World Pharmacists Day by the international pharmacist community globally since long.

In Tamil Nadu various programs are being arranged as part of the first observation of the Day. The Tamil Nadu pharmacy council together with IPA state branch and SRM Pharmacy College will hold two meetings in the morning and in the evening at SRM University and at Vel’s University. The registrar of TN pharmacy council, Thirumalai Elango will deliver a speech on “The Role of Pharmacists in Healthcare System” at both the universities.

In West Bengal, as part of the celebration, the state branch of the Indian Pharmacists Association (IPA) will conduct a panel discussion on “Concept of Ward Pharmacy and its Implementation” at the IPA auditorium in the evening.

The association will distribute badges to the pharmacists to wear during working hours, said Subhash C Mandal, vice president of WB IPA. The main objective of celebrating the Day is to update the knowledge base of the dispensers, awareness of common people regarding proper use of medicines, preventive measures against diseases and overall development of healthcare system. He said pharmacist community is one of the three main pillars of the healthcare system with doctors and nurses being the other two.

“We believe that this celebration will be a boost to the pharmacists as healthcare providers and a recognition for their relentless services to the mankind,” Mandal said.

The Kerala pharmacy council is organising district wise programmes on the Day with a state level meeting at Thiruvananthapuram. The state health minister V S Sivakumar will inaugurate the function, said B Rajan, state president of the Council.

He said pharmacy council of India has decided to observe the Pharmacists Day from this year in order to create cooperation among pharmacists, attain public attention about pharmacy services and provide more services to the society. The district forums formed by the council in every district will be conducting programmes in the district levels.