From Mr D. Walsh, MRPharmS
SIR,—With reference to the letter from Mr Engineer (PJ, October 7, p515),
I would like to make the following observations.
As a member of the so-called ethnic majority, I have never applied for, nor
been offered, a post of inspector at the Royal Pharmaceutical Society. The reason
for this is that despite being a well-educated and intelligent person, I have
never had any interest in doing the job.
The inferences that I draw from Mr Engineer’s letter are as follows: either
that the Society operates a policy whereby candidates are selected according
to their ethnic background (ie, a racist and therefore illegal one), or that
there are no applications from members of the ethnic minorities.
The former is too ridiculous upon which to comment; the latter infers that members
of ethnic minorities require some kind of third-party support to apply for these
posts. We are not talking here about some disadvantaged youths, but a group
of men and women who possess a university education, who work in a multicultural
society and are members of a multi-ethnic Society. The professional ethics and
standards to which all pharmacists must adhere must, as I am sure Mr Engineer
would agree, be the same for everyone regardless of colour, creed or religion.
It should not, therefore, matter to these pharmacists who inspects their premises,
so long as he or she was the best candidate for the job.
David Walsh
Stalybridge, Cheshire