JaiChief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on the occasion of World Pharmacist Day on Sunday called upon the pharmacists to educate and counsel the patients.

Virtually addressing the members of State Pharmacy Council from Kasauli, he said that the pharmacists played a crucial role during the corona pandemic. After doctors, it is the pharmacists in whom the patients have maximum faith.

The pharmacists have to serve the people keeping all these things in mind so that the medicine does not have any wrong effect on the health of any person in any way, he added.

He said that the job of a pharmacist was not only to give medicines to the patients but also to educate and counsel them for their speedy recovery.

The Union Government has sanctioned a Bulk Drug Park for Himachal Pradesh, which would prove a boon to the economy of the state, he said, adding that with the setting up of a bulk drug park, India’s dependence on China for raw materials would become negligible and the monopoly of China would almost end.

The Chief Minister said that while virtually addressing the Yuva Vijay Sankalp rally organized at Mandi on Saturday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had admired the potential of Himachal in the pharmacy sector and said that Himachal’s identity as a world pharmacy would be strengthened with this Bulk Drug Park.

“The Baddi area of the state had emerged as the biggest pharma hub of Asia and the medicines manufactured at Baddi area during the pandemic was supplied throughout the world,” he said, adding that a Medical Device Park was being set up at Nalagarh at a cost of Rs 349 crore has also been approved and MoUs worth crores of rupees have also been signed.

This would provide employment to about 10,000 people, he added. The Chief Minister also launched the portal of Pharmacy Council on the occasion.

Health Minister Dr Rajiv Saizal said that 25 September was celebrated as the World Pharmacist Day across the world to honour and respect pharmacists. He said that the World Pharmacist Day was started in 2009 by the International Pharmaceutical Federation in Istanbul to encourage the role of pharmacists in improving health in every corner of the world.