PPA for enhancing pharmacists' pay scale to SPS-9

The Pakistan Pharmacists Association (PPA) has urged the government to enhance pay scale of pharmacists from SPS-8 to SPS-9, as has been approved for the young doctors. Pharmacists working in federal hospitals as well as in the provinces during a protest demonstration here on Thursday requested the government to bring their salaries at par with doctors, besides giving them SPS-9.
They said that the pharmacists' fraternity was highly educated and providing critical services to the patients in public as well as in private sector. They urged the government to equally treat them at par with medical graduates, as both the communities underwent equal years of professional education. They also demanded that pharmacists should be given at least Rs 50,000 salary package per month and the registered professionals be given interest-free loan.
According to pharmacists, if the proposed government decision to give SPS-8 to pharmacists was implemented it would affect almost 25,000 pharmacists. They said that PPA has requested the Young Doctors Association to support it for achieving their rights and both have agreed for joint efforts.
PPA central president Syed Khalid Saeed Bukhari while talking to Business Recorder said that the federal government had announced SPS-9 (equal to BPS 18) for medical graduates, while SPS-8 for pharmacists (equal to BPS 17), which shows a clear discrimination against the pharmacists. He said that if the government did not accept the demands of pharmacists, they would continue their protest without disturbing the patients across the country.
Students of other Islamic countries educated in Pakistan like Jordan have established state-of-the-art industry in their countries while due to the negligence of the government Pakistan has badly failed in establishing a modern pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan.
Quoting the example of Jordan, he said that Jordanian students educated in Pakistan had established 13 companies in Jordan, which were exporting different medicines worth $1 billion to USA. He further said that a large number of pharmacists were jobless and the government should create at least 3,000 new posts through the Provincial Public Service Commissions.
Addressing the protestors Professor Dr Saeed-ul-Haq, President PPA Islamabad and Azad Jammu and Kashmir chapter said,"We congratulated young doctors association (YDA) for their historic achievement. However, at the same time the PPA took strong exception to the proposed structure for the pharmacists wherein they have been proposed to be inducted in SPS-8 whereas the doctors have been placed in SPS¬9".
He said keeping in view the years of education, which the pharmacy student undergoes are equivalent to the medical students, the pharmacists should be placed in the same cadre ie SPS-9. "We have requested the health authorities to re-consider the proposed health professionals service structure while addressing the genuine and well founded demands of the PPA," said Rafi-ul-Zaman.