#PharmacistAndHisStatus
In India, pharmacy was never positioned as a decision-making profession.
Doctors were given authority to diagnose and treat; advocates were given authority to argue and represent. Pharmacists were largely confined to dispensing and compliance.
Authority creates identity, and identity creates respect. When authority is limited, perception also becomes limited.
Education expanded — D.Pharm, B.Pharm, M.Pharm, Pharm.D — but professional identity did not evolve at the same pace.
Many graduates complete degrees without clarity about their independent responsibility in patient care.
Without defined clinical territory, policymakers see pharmacists as supportive rather than strategic stakeholders.
Yet the issue is not entirely external.
Pharmacists often divide themselves — retail vs hospital, industry vs clinical, diploma vs degree. Instead of one identity,
There are comparisons and hierarchies.
Doctors and advocates may have specializations, but they defend one collective identity as Doctor and Advocate
Pharmacy has struggled to build that unified professional culture.
Visibility, Doctors appear in public health debates. Advocates shape constitutional discussions.
Pharmacists, despite being medication experts, rarely occupy policy or media platforms.
When a profession does not project its value, regulators feel little urgency to expand its role.
There is also the commercial shadow.
Community pharmacy operates within trade licensing systems, so society often sees the shop before the science.
When internal compromises occur — proxy attendance, absentee registrations, fee undercutting — credibility weakens further.
Doctors and advocates earned respect not just through knowledge, but through solidarity, legal authority, and assertiveness.
They protect their professional space collectively.
For pharmacy to command respect, three shifts are essential:
i. Internal unity,
ii.Clear professional role definition, and
iii. Visible demonstration of patient impact.
Perhaps the deeper question is not why regulators fail to recognize pharmacists —
but whether pharmacists have fully recognized their own collective strength.
When that recognition becomes firm, external respect will follow.
#CDSCO, #DCD, #PCI #IPA #AIPDA #APTI #Pharmacists
POV: Bhagwan PS
