IPA to act against defunct state and local branches; state branch of Odisha IPA derecognized
The Indian
Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) has decided to act against the non-performing
state and local branches of the IPA and de-affiliate all such dormant units
with immediate effect.
Sources said the first to face the axe is the state branch of Odisha. Four more state branches and eight local branches have been issued reminder notices.
According to sources from Odisha pharma industry, the Odisha branch of the IPA was lying dormant for more than ten years without any activity. So, the Indian Pharmaceutical Association has found it as defunct and de-recognized the state committee, and officially declared the Jeypore local branch of the IPA in Odisha as the state branch of the association for the time being.
Dr. TV Narayana, president of the association, said after elevating the Jeypore local branch in Koraput district in the state to the status of Odisha state branch, the executive committee of the IPA has decided to officially declare it in a special meeting held in New Delhi as part of the 70th IPC. He said, while raising the status of the local branch to state level, an ad hoc committee has been formed, with Dr Shruthi Renjan Mishra as chairman, to constitute various local branches and conduct election within six months to elect state office-bearers. The national committee will appoint an observer to conduct the election.
About non-performance of the state branch, Dr Narayana said, “During the last more than ten years, they were dormant, not functioning and not holding elections. We have written three reminder letters to which they didn’t respond. In the IPA executive meeting, we have taken a decision that those branches which are not functional should be considered as defunct. They will not have voting rights and such branches will not get status of state branches. We have already issued notices to four state branches and eight local branches which are not conducting elections”.
Only performing organisations which conduct elections every year would be given the status of state or local branches in future, the IPA president said.
Dr. Shruthi Renjan Mishra, while talking to Pharmabiz said that he will organise five local branches, central, eastern, western, southern and northern, selecting pharmacists and pharmacy professionals including academicians. For this, Dr. Sudhir Kumar Martha, a lecturer in Jeypore College of Pharmacy has been given the assignment for organizing local branches. Dr SR Mishra is currently acting as the president of Jeypore local branch of the IPA.
“Further to organise local branches and strengthen IPA activities in Odisha, we are planning to streamline the functions of the state pharmacy council. Now the council is also not properly working. For getting registered with the council, the qualified pharmacists are now in disarray. Students from far off places have to stay three or four days in the state capital to register their certificates with the council. No election is held, no council meeting, no proper functioning. We will approach the health minister and find a solution”, he said.
According to him, the first initiative of the IPA state committee will be to force the government to implement Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 and the Pharmacy Act all over the state. No medical shop will be allowed to function without the presence of a registered pharmacist as mandated by the drug laws. Similarly, the government will be forced to establish a pharmacy college in the government sector, said Dr SR Mishra.
Comments
Post a Comment