Manipal College of Pharmaceutical Sciences (MCOPS) celebrated World Pharmacists Day (WPD) 2024, in a grand style on 25 September 2024 at Prof. P Gundu Rao Conference Hall, MCOPS.  The event was jointly organized by the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) Manipal Branch, MCOPS and Pharmacy Literacy Club (PLC), Centre for Public Health Pharmacy, MCOPS. The event commenced at 10:00 AM with a welcome address by Dr. Srinivas Mutalik, Principal, MCOPS. Dr. D Sreedhar, Secretary of IPA-Manipal branch, delivered an overview of the program. The Chief Guest Mr. Pramod Hegde, CMD, Medorganics India Pvt. Ltd, Mangalore delivered the keynote address on this year's theme “Pharmacists: Meeting Global Health Needs”. Mr. Shankar Naik, Deputy Drugs Controller, Udupi who participated as Guest of Honour, delivered an encouraging message to the budding pharmacists. The dignitaries who made a significant contribution to the pharmacy profession - Mr. Pramod Hegde (CMD, Medorganics India Pvt. Ltd, Mangalore), Mr. Shankar Naik (Deputy Drugs Controller, Udupi), Mr. T Premchand Pai (Pharmacist, Manipal Drug House, Manipal), Mr. Jose A J (Chief Pharmacist, Kasturba Hospital, KMC, Manipal), Mr. Ramesh Nayak (President, Chemists and Druggists Association, Udupi), and Mr. Sundar Poojary (MD, Janaushadhi Kendra, Brahmavara) - were felicitated during this program.

A panel discussion on the topic “Accessibility, Affordability and Availability of Medicines” was conducted with a regulatory pharmacist, hospital pharmacist, community pharmacist, academic pharmacist, and public representative. The panellists were Mr. Shankar Naik (Deputy Drugs Controller), Mr. Jose AJ (Chief Pharmacist, Kasturba Hospital, KMC, Manipal), Dr. Girish Thunga (Associate Professor, MCOPS), Mr. Pradeep Kumar (Chief Pharmacist, Radha Medicals, Manipal) and Mrs. Abigail S Anchan (Managing Trustee, Chosen Generation Charitable Trust, Udupi). Ms. Vismaya Ross Emmanuel, 4^th year PharmD student, moderated this session.

In addition, the new team of PLC for the year 2024-25 was inaugurated with the distribution of badges to the new members by Dr Srinivas Mutalik, Principal and Dr Krishnamurthy Bhat, Vice-Principal of MCOPS. The event, sponsored by Canara Bank, Manipal was a grand success attracting over 130 participants, including faculty members, students, and research scholars of MCOPS.