Al-Khidmat launches pharmacists training program, announces establishing IT university, 200 pharmacies in Karachi

Karachi: Announcing the launch of ‘Bano-Qabil Pharmacist’ program to enhance the capacity of fresh pharmacy graduates, Al-Khidmat Saturday said they were going to establish 200 more pharmacies across the city to provide quality medicines on subsidized rates to the citizens and to provide employment to as many pharmacists as possible.
The announcement came from the JI Karachi chief Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman while addressing the launching ceremony of “Bano Qabil Pharmacists” program here at a local hotel, under which fresh graduates of pharmacy would be offered free technology-based courses to enable them advance skills in the field and make them valuable in the pharmaceutical industry.
He also announced establishment of an IT university in Karachi under its welfare and social development arm Al-Khidmat following its Bano Qabil programme – a youth education initiative aimed at empowering and skilling Karachi youngsters in the latest technologies through 100 free advanced IT courses to give for their employment and freelancing careers.
“Our first batch of Bano Qabil has already graduated and many of them are now in the field,” he said. “During the last one and a half experience since we actually envisaged this Bano Qabil idea we have realised that this city and its youngsters have immense potential and majority of them can’t afford quality education. As the public universities no more offer quality education and private ones are too much expensive”.
“So we under the banner of Al-Khidmat are going to set an advance IT university in Karachi which would offer quality education at the nominal price with larger portion of enrolled students on scholarship”, Hafiz Naeem ur Rehman announced.
He said more than 117,000 youngsters both males and females appeared in the test for second batch of Bano Qabil last month and the courses for those who qualified the entry tests were set to begin very soon.
Hafiz Naeem said after meeting industry people and experts of the field, he and team of Al-Khidmat decided to initiate a separate Bano Qabil programme for the fresh graduates of pharmacists to cater the need of pharmaceutical industry and job needs of the young graduates.
“We have faith in the abilities of our youth. We have 6500,000 people here in our city, who are aged between 14 and 25 years and 40 to 50 per cent of them are educated. They are our assets. We will empower them,” Hafiz Naeem said.
The IT courses in Bano Qabil 2.0 have been increased from the six courses that were offered in Bano Qabil 1.0 to 15 courses now, resulting in a two-year diploma.
Syed Jamshed Ahmed, director pharmacy of Al-Khidmat shared the brief details of the Bano Qabil Pharmacists programme and explained how the young trained graduates under the initiative would help reforming the basis needs of health system.
“Currently, there are 11 pharmacies of Al-Khidmat in Karachi which are offering medicines at very nominal prices,” he said. “Only last month we sold out medicines worth Rs550 million from these 11 pharmacies that reflects the need of more such facilities that could help poor, lower and lower middle class so they can meet their crucial health related needs. So we are hoping to expand our network and setup some 200 pharmacies across Karachi over the next few years.”
CEO Al-Khidmat Naveed Baig said people had so much faith in the welfare activities of Al-Khidmat that well before an appeal for collection of donations for the people of Gaza, they had started sending donations to Al-Khidmat for the people of besieged Gaza and added that they were already working in the held territory for the last several years.
Representatives from the local pharmaceutical industry including former Chairmen Tauqeer-ul-Haq, Shaikh Qaiser Waheed and Haroon Qasim, the Managing Director of Pharmevo said they were looking for the trained and qualified graduates to work for them in their factories as well as in sales and marketing teams.
They said Al-Khidmat’s ‘Bano Qabil Pharmacist’ Program would not only provide the required workforce to the local pharmaceutical industry but it would also help in overcoming the unemployment in the city.
President of the Pakistan Society of Health System Pharmacists (PSHP) Abdul Lateef Shaikh, Chief Pharmacist of NICVD Jibran Yousuf, Umaima Muzzamil and others also spoke.
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