Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Sunday said that the Union Government has sanctioned a Bulk Drug Park for the State which would prove a boon to the state’s economy.

“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. Thousands of crores of rupees would be saved as the pharma companies in Himachal would get raw material in the State itself and the manufacturing of medicines would also become cheaper, thereby reduce the cost of medicines,” he said, while virtually addressing the members of the State Pharmacy Council from Kasauli in Solan district on the occasion of Pharmacist Day on Sunday.

Making an appeal to the pharmacists to educate and counsel the patients, Thakur said that the Pharmacists played a crucial role during the corona pandemic; and after the doctor, it is the pharmacist on whom the patients have maximum faith.

He said that 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. “The pharmacist’s job is not only to give medicines to the patients, but also to educate and counsel them for their speedy recovery,” he said.

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 state’s potential in pharmacy sector and said that Himachal’s identity as a world pharmacy would be strengthened with this Bulk Drug Park.

Chief Minister said that Baddi area of the State had emerged as the biggest pharma hub of Asia and the medicines manufactured at Baddi area during the pendemic was supplied throughout the world. He said, 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.  He said that this would provide employment to about 10,000 people.