Ladakh govt notifies constitution of first LPC.

The Union territory of Ladakh has notified the constitution of its first state pharmacy council, Ladakh Pharmacy Council (LPC), for the UT that is the northernmost region of the country. The notification first came into force on April 8, 2022.

For the time being, the Ladakh Pharmacy Council (LPC) will have only eight nominated members, including the registrar. It can commence its functions, starting with the registration of various pharmacists.

Once the registration process is over, and a comprehensive register comes into being, an election is to be conducted for the selection of six members from among the then registered pharmacists as per the present provisions of the pharmacy act. The union territory of Ladakh currently has nearly one thousand qualified pharmacists with diplomas, degrees, etc.

The notification states that Dr. Iftikhar Ahmad Chowdhary will be the president of the Ladakh Pharmacy Council (LPC). He is the additional secretary of health and medical education.

Dr. Motoup Dorje has been selected as ex-officio vice-president of Ladakh Pharmacy Council (LPC). He is the director of health services (DHS).

Mohammad Basheer is to serve as ex-officio registrar-cum-secretary of the Ladakh Pharmacy Council (LPC). He is The controlling authority of the food and drug administration (FDA) in Ladakh,

The other five nominated members include
⦁ Nasreen Bano. He is the drug inspector of Ley.
⦁ Mumtaz Ahmad. He is the drug inspector of Kargil,
⦁ Abdul Mehdi. He is the government pharmacist at the sub-center in Faroona of the Kargil district.
⦁ Sonam Dawa. He is the president of the Chemist and Druggist Association (CDA) in Ley.
⦁ Mohammad Kahalil. He is the president of the CDA in Kargil.

The notification clarifies that after forming the Ladakh Pharmacy Council (LPC), it is to nominate a government analyst from any of the notified laboratories in the union territory to the council as an ex-officio member. Further, the Ladakh Pharmacy Council (LPC) has to nominate an elected member from the medical council that is to be another member of the Ladakh Pharmacy Council (LPC). Since no medical council is constituted for Ladakh, a registered medical practitioner can also be elected from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) medical council.

Along with the notification of the state pharmacy council, the union territory (UT) administration has also notified about the constitution of a registration tribunal, Ladakh Pharmacy Registration Tribunal (LPRT). It is the discretion of the health department which one should be constituted.

When contacted, the designated registrar-cum-secretary, Mohammad Basheer, claimed the department would constitute only the state pharmacy council, and a process will start next Saturday after the meeting. He stated that he is happy with the decision of the union territory government for having notified the Ladakh Pharmacy Council (LPC) and also Ladakh Pharmacy Registration Tribunal (LPRT) for the union territory, where the pharmacists have thus far been unable to register their certificates for the last three years as the union territory didn’t have a statutory body for registration. Further, the drugs control administration was not entertaining any application for grant of new licenses. Because of that, the unemployed pharmacists were failing to open medical shops or engage in the wholesale business of medicines for a livelihood. Mohammad Basheer is also the drugs controller of Ladakh; He asserted the process of registration could start from May, and the election is to be conducted in August or September.

Regarding the registration of the medical assistant course (MAC) passed students, he added those who already have registered with the erstwhile council of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) before the Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Reorganization Act of 2019 can now register with the new council. Those who passed after India’s northernmost state bifurcation will have to wait until the union government makes a solid decision about their registration.