Association of Indian Pharmacists in America launched NIPA

Chicago IL: Harish Bhatt, president of the renowned Association of Indian Pharmacists in America (AIPHA), hosted AIPhA’s exciting Annual Diwali Party on Saturday, October 19, 2013 in the Meadows Club to celebrate the upcoming holiday season. Harish not only planned a night of entertainment and enjoyment for families, but also introduced the National Indian Pharmacy Association (NIPA) and discussed the progress and outlook of this pivotal group to the over 500 guests in attendance.

Rupesh Manek spoke about NIPA’s goals and intentions, which are to be dedicated to the construction of networking opportunities, the development of relationships, and the promotion of our cultural heritages for pharmacists of Indian origin in the United States of America by ways of interaction through common forum. As Rupesh and Harish Bhatt both stated, NIPA attempts to build single platform from which to petition lawmakers in an ethical and responsible manner to serve our interests and those of the patients we serve.

NIPA will, for example, function as a buying group. AIPhA has formed a buying group that does not charge members a fee and returns all annual rebates to members. NIPA seeks to promote the highest quality of care and advance the future our business and our industry by improving our professional skills and furthering our members economic interests.

Saturday’s event, began with booths of different demos and business enterprises presenting their products, explaining different queries. Noteworthy booths were from Cardinal Health; H. D. Smith; Nipro Diagnotics; Best Computer systems, Inc.; Collossal Health; Micro Merchants System; Windmill Vitamins; Script Pro; NIPA-National Indian Pharmacists Association; H & H Wholesale; Amneal Pharmceuticals etc.

Also on display were booths promoting charities and raising awareness. In particular, Kevin Bhatt brought to attention Generation Rx, a program run by Cardinal Health that aims to stop prescription drug abuse. In addition, Karishma Bhatt raised over $3000 for the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization that works with a number of different facilities, hospitals and pharmacies to help American soldiers reintegrate after returning from service. Karishma spoke briefly about Wounded Warrior with Steve Lawrence from Cardinal Health and encouraged all present to learn more at woundedwarrior.org.

The program began with a beautiful dance. Dhristi presented a mind blowing program encompassing an array of Classical, Bollywood and Salsa dances with Madan Kulkarni serving as the announcer.

Snehal Bhavsar next invited speakers Steve Lawrence of Cardinal Health, Bill Bodin of HD Smith and Shannon Rivero of Amneal Pharmaceuticals to the stage to speak briefly.

Swati Dandekar, who announced that she would be running for US Congress from the 1st Congressional District in Iowa, spoke briefly.

Additionally, Gary Prestor was awarded Lifetime Achievement Award for Dedicated Service to profession of Pharmacy, by Harish Bhatt.

The evening ended on a high note as the multi-talented singing sensation Babul Supriyo entertained the audience with a selection of recent Bollywood hits, Tagore classicals and old favorites. Babul Supriyo comes from a prestigious musical family in West Bengal and is the grandson of the noted composer- Banikantha N. C. Baral. Carrying on the family tradition Babul has belted out hit songs in numerous Bollywood and Bengali movies. He has also recorded three Rabindra Sangeet albums, released in 2011. Proving that his talent is not limited to singing, he played the lead role in Tarun Majumdar’s Bengali film Chander Bari (2007), followed by another lead role in the remake of of Uttam Kumar’s “Ogo Bodhu Shundori” (based on ‘My Fair Lady’). He got his first break when he toured with Kalyanji-Anandji in the early 90s. By mid 90s he had broken into the competitive world of playback singing in Bollywood. He has sung hits in movies like Hum Tum, Fanaa, Hello Brother, Kaho Na Pyar Hai, Agnisakshi and more.

NIPA has been launched this year and is still in its infancy. The members involved with NIPA have made huge strides thus far and look towards the future with high hopes. The present pharmacy organizations have come into their own after 25 years of persistence and dedication. With combined resources and efforts, there are no limits to where NIPA will go on the next 25 years.

Pictures captions

• 2017 Harish Bhatt and his children Karishma and Kevin. The two raised necessary awareness for Generation Rx, which aims to prevent prescription drug abuse, and the Wounded Warrior Project, which helps soldiers reintegrate after serving.
• 2028 Harish Bhatt, president of AIPhA and host of Saturday night’s gala.
• 2761 NIPA board members of 2013. NIPA aims to dedicate to the construction of networking opportunities, the development of relationships, and the promotion of our cultural heritages for pharmacists of Indian origin in the United States of America by ways of interaction through common forum.
• 2832 Harish with AIPhA student chapter members.
• 2835 AIPhA board members.
• 2841 President Harish Bhatt officially announced the National Indian Pharmacy Association.
• 2882 Karishma Bhatt speaks about the Wounded Warrior Project, which serves returning American soldiers. Karishma raised over $3000 for the Wounded Warrior Project Saturday night and encourages AIPhA and friends to learn more at woundedwarrior.org.
• 3151 Harish Bhatt and Dr. Renuka Bhatt enjoying the singing styles of Babul Supriyo at the end of the evening.
• 3194 President Harish Bhatt joins singer Babul Supriyo onstage to thank the audience for coming.