Lambasting the government for denying recognition to Pharmacists/Medical Assistants who had completed their courses prior to State’s Reorganization, the activists of JKNPP along with the affected candidates led by Mr. Harsh Dev, Chairman-JKNPP & former Minister held a massive protest in Jammu today. The protestors raised slogans “Provide Registration, Licenses to Medical Assistants/Pharmacists of J&K UT”, “BJP Govt Hai Hai”, “J&K Ke Pharmacists Ke Saath Insaaf Karo”, “Diploma Holder Pharmacists Ko Insaf Do”, “BJP Hai Hai”.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh said that delay and deny over issuance of registration and licenses to all such candidates on the pretext of repeal of earlier laws was absurd and ridiculous. It was highly unjustified and rather atrocious to deny recognition of courses conducted under the existing laws of the then State prior to August 5, 2019. He said that around 25,000 candidates had passed various para-medical courses prior to abrogation of Article 370 under J&K Pharmacy Act from recognized institutes in the then State who are being denied registration/licenses by the J&K government on the plea of repeal of the said Act post Re-organization of the State. Seeking personal indulgence of Union Health Minister and Medical Council of India for recognizing the said courses in view of the same having been completed under the existing laws of J&K State, the NPP activists and affected youth led by Harsh Dev Singh held a massive protest demonstration at Jammu and torched the effigy of the central government.
Urging upon the central government to address the most genuine issues of these trained Pharmacists, Mr. Singh said that non recognition of the said courses would render the diplomas of all such candidates invalid despite they having passed the relevant courses as per the J&K laws. He said that while the future courses could be conducted under the Central Pharmacy Act, the already trained youth under the State laws need to be given approval/relaxation for validation of their degrees. “It is not the fault of the candidates that the laws have changed. It was further ironical to note that the J&K government had admitted even fresh batches for the said training courses in various AMT schools of J&K in pursuance of the earlier advertisements issued under J&K Pharmacy Act. And despite huge fee having been charged by government run as well as recognized private institutes, the concerned authorities of Health Department were refusing issuance of registration/licenses on the plea that central Pharmacy Act had become operative in J&K. It was further disturbing to note that several unqualified candidates with mere experience certificates from chemists and medical shops owners had been granted licenses of medical practitioners/chemists shops, but those who had duly passed the said courses under the existing laws of State were being disregarded and rather thrown on the road side to suffer with none to listen to their shrill cries for justice”, lamented Singh.
Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion included Rajesh Padgotra, Surinder Chouhan, Vipan Kumar, Anies Ahmad, Raj Pratap Singh, Mukhtar Ahmed, Manpreet Singh, Sourav Sharma, Ankush Kumar, Vishal Kumar, Sourav Thapa, Javed Iqbal, Anil Kumar, Umar Farooq, Mohit Sharma, Ragubir Singh, Khajur Singh, Ravinder Singh Jamwal, Rajesh Gondhi, Rakesh Gupta, Yash Paul Sharma, Rohit Sharma, Gurdeep Singh@Raju, Hakim Din, Kirti Fangotra