Health dept yet to fill 3,067 pharmacist posts in state

Jaipur: The recruitment process for pharmacists in the state has been pending for over a year, despite the govt advertising 3,067 posts in 2023 after a decade-long gap. The delay is attributed to the change in govt and the ongoing verification of candidates' documents.
A senior health department official said, “It will take time as the process of verification of the documents of the candidates is in progress.”
According to a document, the health department anticipates completing the posting of new pharmacists by Nov 30, 2024.After verifying marksheets, a merit list of 2,819 pharmacist candidates was prepared, with an interim merit list of 2,543 candidates released. However, the final list has not been released, resulting in a delay in posting.
The last pharmacist recruitment in the state took place approximately 10 years ago. The current recruitment process, advertised in 2023, faced numerous challenges, including legal complexities, FIRs, election code of conduct, mark sheet verification, and limited resources. Despite these obstacles, the health department has pointed out that they had worked diligently to complete the task in mission mode. Verifying the validity of marksheets proved to be the most significant hurdle in the recruitment process. To address this, the department formed 25 teams that travelled to other states to verify the marksheets of around 4,000 candidates. Furthermore, the department actively pursued pending court cases to clear the way for recruitment.
Pawan Saraswat, a pharmacist and former Research Scholar at the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), highlighted the importance of the recruitment, stating, "According to the govt standard, there should be one medicine distribution centre for every 150 patients. However, the actual situation is that more than 150 patients are taking medicines at many counters. The recruitment of pharmacists will help in creating more drug distribution counters for the benefit of the patients."
In light of recent paper leaks and fake document cases in the state, the health department took precautions by sending teams to other states to verify the documents of approximately 4,000 candidates in the pharmacist recruitment process.
Rajasthan pharmacist karamchari sangh (united) state president Tilak Sharma said, “The govt should step up the process of recruitment of pharmacists for the benefits of the patients.”