PSRC wants ISRO to allow pharmacy graduates to take part in written exam for pharmacist post

August 26, 2023

The Pharmacy Students Rights Committee (PSRC), an association of pharmacy graduate students in Maharashtra, wanted the Satish Dhawan Space Centre under the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at Sriharikota to review the advertisement they published on August 4 calling for applications from D Pharm holders to fill up the vacant posts of pharmacists in the health centres under the organisation.  

PSRC wanted the organisation to reconsider the eligibility criteria for the prescribed post of pharmacist published in the advertisement and include the degree holders also.

Quoting a gazette notification by the government of India following the recommendation of the Pharmacy Council of India with regard to basic qualification, Rishikesh Sathpal, convener of the PSRC has written to the secretary of the ISRO Recruitment Cell that B Pharm, M Pharm and Pharm D are although higher qualifications they are eligible for appointment of various posts where Diploma in Pharmacy is prescribed as the basic qualification.   
 
In the advertisement of the ISRO the qualification prescribed for the post of pharmacist is only diploma in pharmacy. Taking this as discrimination to pharmacy graduates, PSRC approached the PCI to intervene in this matter. Accordingly, the central council wrote one letter to the secretary of the recruitment cell of the space research organisation requesting them to consider the graduates also as eligible candidates.
 
Earlier, when the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi released a similar notification, the PSRC wanted the AIIMS to reconsider the eligibility criteria; soon the institute allowed pharmacy graduates too to apply for pharmacist post. Rishikesh says that the unemployment situation of pharmacy graduates is increasing all over the country, but the post of pharmacist is reserved for the D Pharm holders alone. Because of his intervention, several central government bodies have now started to include all pharmacy graduates in the competitive exams for pharmacist posts.
 
Last month when the Maharashtra Public Service Commission called for applications for drug inspectors, it gave priority for industry-experienced candidates. With the intervention of the PSRC, the MPSC withdrew the notification and issued a fresh one, said Rishikesh. The association is relentlessly working on inclusion of B Pharm in the eligibility criteria for food safety officers in Maharashtra.

PHARMABIZ.com