Pharmacists on strike in Rajasthan

Report of Mazdoor Ekta Committee correspondent

From September 1, 2023, pharmacists working in government hospitals and dispensaries across different districts of Rajasthan are organising a series of strikes in support of their demands, under the leadership of Rajasthan Pharmacists Employees Union (Unified).

The agitating pharmacists are demanding that they be given various allowances at par with nurses. They are demanding removal of discrepancies in the posts and salaries of pharmacists and timely promotion. They are demanding assistants and machines at all medicine distribution centers and fair wages for the workers of government free medicine centers. Pharmacists are demanding cessation of offline records and implementation of only online record system.

The pharmacists of Rajasthan have been waging different modes of protests for the last several months regarding their demands. On 6^th February 2023, they staged a massive one-day dharna at the Shaheed Smarak in Jaipur. They had organized a week-long dharna 20^th-25^th March outside the gate of the Sawai Mansingh Medical College. They staged sit-ins in various districts of Rajasthan 27^th March- 30^th April. The agitated pharmacists were about to boycott work from May 1, but the Medical and Health Department assured them that the state government was going to consider their demands positively. Therefore, the Pharmacists Association had postponed the program of boycott of work, in public interest. But even after the lapse of 4 months, the Rajasthan government has not considered even a single important demand of the pharmacists. This has made the pharmacists very angry with the government.

Pharmacists have warned the government that if the government does not pay attention to their demands, then in the coming time, they will protest by holding gate meetings at all medical colleges, district headquarters and block offices on 4^th-6^th September between 8-10 AM. A huge protest is to be held in Jaipur on 8^th September. Work will be boycotted for 2 hours between 11^th and 17^th September. And, on 15th September, all the pharmacists of the state will take collective leave. If no positive action is taken on the demands of the pharmacists by then, the pharmacists will be forced to boycott work completely.