S A Shofiee, Sylhet :
A scandal has occurred surrounding a Pharmacy Council exam in Sylhet. The syndicate has accepted the applications of some of the hundreds of applicants by taking money. And the rest have been turned away through various tricks. There have been allegations of such fraud with those interested in becoming pharmacists against the Sylhet Chemist and Druggist Association. However, they are denying the allegations.
It has been learned from the complaints of some people who want to take part in the pharmacist admission exam in Sylhet that every year the Bangladesh Pharmacy Council admits them to the Pharmacy Certificate Registration Course through an exam. This time too, applications are invited for admission to the 64th course. They have to apply online and are asked to deposit an online fee of five thousand taka for that application.
But none of the applicants got the opportunity to apply online or deposit money, so they went to the office of the Sylhet Chemist Druggist Association. The office staff kept the applicants waiting there all day and collected the files with money in the evening. There, a staff member named Parvez collected an additional amount of Tk 5,000 from the applicants as an application fee and assured them that they would apply online. At night, it was announced that the Pharmacy Council had suspended the application. The date would be announced later.
Two days after the incident, it was announced that the applications would be submitted on May 12. All those who had submitted before that day appeared at the office of the Mirboxtular Chemist Druggist Association in Sylhet. Two hours later, it was announced that the application quota had been filled. No more applications were being accepted.
However, a source said that two employees including Parvez reached an understanding with those who had submitted their applications.
One of the applicants named Moshabbir, on the condition of not revealing his identity, said that a whole drama was played out for two days regarding the application. Documents and money were taken directly by saying that they had applied online. Only those who had signed a contract with them were able to submit their applications. The rest could not. This will be revealed upon investigation.
However, during the admission process, some of the victims contacted Bangladesh Chemist and Druggist Association President Mainul Haque Chowdhury directly but did not get any redress.
However, the accused employee Parvez said that they have nothing to do here. They have followed the instructions given to them. When asked why the files were taken directly after the online application, he could not give a good answer.
Bangladesh Chemist and Druggist Association Sylhet Director Panna said, according to my knowledge, 600 applications were supposed to be submitted, but only 107 applications were submitted. We do not know anything about what has happened. If any of our staff commits irregularities, action will be taken against them.
Drug Super of Sylhet Shamim Ahmed said, this is controlled and supervised by the Pharmacy Council. Applications are supposed to be made online. If anyone does anything outside of this, it is wrong. We will take action if we receive any complaint from anyone.
