Pharmacists’ rift widens

LAHORE

The 19th International Pharmacy Conference organised by Pakistan Pharmacists Association (PPA) on Thursday widened the division between its two groups due to which Federal Minister for Health Saira Afzal Tarrar avoided to participate in the conference.

Primary and Secondary Healthcare Secretary Ali Jaan and Health DG Dr Syed Mukhtar Shah participated in the conference as chief guests while senior members of PPA, including Ayaz Ali Khan, Qalab Hassan Rizvi, Balochistan University Vice-Chancellor Prof Javed Iqbal, PU Pharmacy Dean Prof Khalid Hussain, Dr Latif, Faraz Ashraf, attended the event. During the conference, PPA’s senior leaders representing rival groups, including Prof Javed Iqbal and Prof Khalid Hussain, exchanged harsh words with each other over claims of their right to run the affairs of the association and the members divided into two different groups.

Earlier, addressing the conference, Ali Jaan said that Pakistan Pharmacists Association needed capacity building of pharmacists. He said the government was already working on its part. Terming the pharmacists’ role quite unsatisfactory, he said that the pharmacists didn’t have any authority over storekeepers, who seemed more powerful than pharmacists in hospitals. Soon 80 new pharmacists will be appointed in the hospitals, he said, adding that the number of pharmacists would also be increased in far off areas of the province. Health DG Mukhtar Shah said that pharmacists were not playing their role properly. He said that the pharmacy departments of educational institutes should coordinate with hospitals’ pharmacies so that pharmacists could be trained in a better way.