PESHAWAR: Members of the Young Pharmacists Community (YPC) held a protest demonstration, demanding the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to approve the pharmacy service policy.

The protesters, gathered outside the Peshawar Press Club and led by their president Junaid Iqbal, said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was the only province where the pharmacy service policy was still not in place. Due to the absence of this policy, the pharmacists were not receiving job opportunities.

Other office bearers, including vice president Sehrash Jabeen, Raees, and Ehsan, also shared their views on the occasion. They demanded the immediate approval and implementation of the pharmacy service policy to address the unrest among young pharmacists.

They suggested that the effective implementation of Drug Rules, including Schedule G, should be ensured to halt the manufacture and sale of substandard medicines and protect public health.

They said that the number of substandard Pharm-D colleges in the province was increasing, which was harming the quality of pharmacy education. They urged the provincial government to regulate these colleges and ensure the quality of education.

The pharmacists also pointed out that the shortage of pharmacy faculties and teaching staff in government universities of the province was negatively impacting the education of students.

They said, “The government needs to pay immediate attention to this issue. Teaching staff in private universities are being paid low salaries and there is no job security. Industrial pharmacists, who play a key role in pharmaceutical manufacturing, are suffering from insecure jobs and low salaries.”

The protesters warned that if their demands were not addressed within a month, they would launch a province-wide protest and stage a sit-in in front of the provincial assembly building to voice their concerns and seek a solution to their problems.

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2024