The Tamil Nadu Pharmacist Welfare Association (TNPWA), an organisation of unemployed pharmacy graduates and diploma holders, will hold state wide agitations after May 13, culminating with a protest march in the state capital, demanding immediate steps from government to fill up the vacancies of pharmacists in Public Health Centres and Taluk Hospitals. A new government will assume power in the state after May 13.

The Association will also submit a memorandum signed by 70,000 private pharmacists to the new government requesting to do appointments through employment exchanges. “Most of those who have registered with the employment exchanges are very senior in age, they cannot expect job through public service commission. It is after 20 years, the government appointed 656 pharmacists through employment exchanges three months ago based on seniority,” said M Patten Raj, the vice-president of TNPWA, who leads the organisation in southern Tamil Nadu.

While speaking to Pharmabiz at Thanjavur, P Raj said his organisation is going to conduct a survey in all the PHCs and Taluk Hospitals to find out how many qualified pharmacists are working in the pharmacies. According to him in many of the rural PHCs the drugs are dispensed by unqualified and unauthorized persons which are outright violations of the principles of drugs & cosmetics act. He said the D&C act does not allow the pharmacies to function without qualified pharmacists.

“Several times our association represented the state health minister, the principal health secretary and once even to  the deputy chief minister while he was in Madurai. No constructive step was initiated by the health department to address the issue. Management of drugs is not to play with the life of patients. Each district comprises more than 40 PHCs. If the government has commitment to the society and to the poor patients visiting the government hospitals, they should establish well-furnished pharmacies in all the hospitals,” Patten Raj said while reminding the incidents that happened in the government hospitals in Jaipur two months ago.

He said in addition to the unfilled vacancies, there are retirement vacancies in many Taluk and District Hospitals. About forty percent of the PHCs are now upgraded and the TNPWA is demanding that in all these centres all the requirements should be satisfied including the number of pharmacists as per the established ratio. A minimum of three pharmacists are required in an upgraded public health centre. According to an enumeration of vacancies by TNPWA, there are 8000 vacancies of pharmacists in government institutions in Tamil Nadu.

As far as the private pharmacies are concerned, he said his association will demand the government to ensure the retail shops are run by qualified pharmacists only. With this demand, TNPWA will also approach the Tamil Nadu Pharmacy Council for the implementation of section 42 of the Act, he told Pharmabiz.