On the issues like cadre restructuring and transfers, the pharmacists working in the Government hospitals are on a path of agitation. The pharmacists under the banner of their association Diploma Pharmacists Association (DPA) would take out a rally from Doon hospital and march towards the office of District Magistrate on Thursday.
The president of DPA district unit, DP Thapliyal said that the issue of cadre restructuring was pending since creation of the State. He said the allotment of pharmacists in the hospitals was also not proper and needed immediate review. Many pharmacists working in sub-centres were not transferred to other hospitals from many years. There were 1,260 posts of pharmacists in the State, the association is of the view that due to increased work load, the State Government should increase the posts of pharmacists in the health services.
Thapliyal said that a delegation of the association met State Health Minister Surendra Singh Negi on Wednesday. In the meeting the Negi assured that the demands of the association would be sympathetically looked into. To press for their demands the association would take out secretariat March on April 06, the members of the association would undertake work boycott from May 18 and from June 01 the association plans to go on an indefinite strike.
‘It’s pressure tactics’
The pressure tactics of Diploma Pharmacists Association (DPA) to earn incentives for them is not new. In the month of January 2013 the pharmacists of the State started a similar agitation to increase their grade pay.
The tactics proved successful as the State Government steely hiked their entry level grade pay from Rs2,800 to Rs4,200 similarly the grade pays on higher posts of the cadre was increased.
A senior doctor at Doon hospital said the salaries of the pharmacists in State were highest in the country. He said the hike in grade pay had created a situation where the salaries of doctors were less than the pharmacists in their hospital which was not a healthy sign for State health services.