The state government has dissolved Odisha Pharmacy Council (OPC) and all the present council members have been debarred from attending any meetings of the council over alleged financial irregularities and improper management.
The decision to dissolve OPC was taken based on the recommendations submitted by the enquiry committee headed by the Director of Medical Education and Training (DMET), Government of Odisha. The Committee also recommended a fresh election.
The state government had earlier constituted a committee to enquire into the reported irregularities at the council, reasons for the pendency of registration certificates, improper management of the pharmacy council, and the intentional delay in the process of registration of applicants applied from different parts of the state, said a circular issued by the special secretary of the health and family welfare department.
Presently, the government has given the charge of the registrar of the council to Sunitha Rani Patra, a drug inspector at the office of the drug control directorate in Bhubaneswar and she has been declared as the Returning Officer to start the election process of the council at the earliest and it will be conducted through online mode(e-voting).
The circular clarified that the government will soon nominate five members to the OSPC, out of which three members will be post-graduates in pharmacy education.
After dissolving the council, the state government has decided to nominate five members soon to make the council functional. Of the five members, three must possess a minimum M Pharm qualification. This apart, three ex-officio members and a member of the state medical council will also be nominated to the pharmacy council.A special audit will also be conducted to find out irregularities and actions will be taken against the erring officials and members of the council based on the report of the special audit as per law.
With these nine members, the registrar will soon constitute one state pharmacy council which will proceed for carrying out the process of electing five members from the registered pharmacists.
A senior official of the Health department told The New Indian Express that the current registration system will be dissociated from drugs control administration as early as possible and foolproof registration software for the council with an online payment system made available for registration of pharmacy pass students as well as their renewals.
The registrar-cum-secretary of the council will form a committee with the experts from OCAC or NIC in consultation with the officers of DMET and directorate of health services to prepare an updated software system for registration and renewals, he added.
