From Mr A. Tanna, FRPharmS
SIR,—Congratulations on your leading article (PJ, October 2, p591)
concerning the advertisement, which appeared in the same issue, to appoint a
successor to Mr Douglas Simpson, following his retirement as editor of The Pharmaceutical
Journal.
I was disappointed to read that the successful candidate for this challenging
position would “ideally” be a pharmacist. It would be a sad day for
the profession if a candidate who was not a pharmacist were appointed, since
the publication has been edited by pharmacists for the past 160 years. A pharmacist
is the only candidate who would have the skills, knowledge and experience required.
How many of the 21 elected Council members approved the advertisement by not
choosing to restrict the job to a pharmacist. Is the Council ashamed of pharmacists
or do they not trust pharmacists any longer?
How would the present editorial staff, who are pharmacists, feel about their
“leader” being a non-pharmacist?
However, if the Council do, in their wisdom, decide to appoint a non-pharmacist
as an editor, then it is inevitable that a special general meeting of the Society
would be called to discuss the matter, with possible unpredictable consequences.
Ashwin Tanna
London SE26