The Karnataka State Pharmacy Council (KSPC) has now identified around 35 pharmacy colleges to organise its continuing pharmacy education (CPE) programme. Karnataka is the first state to take up this initiative of CPE.
The Council will now have to take formal permission from the pharmacy colleges to commence the CEP courses. Karnataka is home to 71 colleges and now efforts to finalise the names are on. Last week KSPC had stated that 51,000 registered pharmacists knowledge and expertise would be upgraded through a CPE programme which is expected to start in March this year.
According to the Council, the purpose of this comprehensive course is to make certain that the pharmacists knowledge and thinking are restructured to suit the new regulations and current needs of the consumers accessing drug retail outlets. Since this is an age of an educated consumer, pharmacists will have to gear up to meet the needs of the progressive consumers.
Moreover, keeping in sync with the Digital India programme, the Council has embarked on online route to issue renewal and new pharmacy registration certificates. The move is expected to ensure prompt renewal of registration.
The CPE will have five topics, which will cover pharmacy promotion, pharmaceutical care, patient counselling, health education and Regulations. The topics will be addressed at a day-long intensive training programme conducted on a Sunday from 9 am to 4 pm.
According to the Council, the CPE is on par with the requirements of Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015. It is open for registered pharmacists of any age and experience. The pharmacists will need to take two courses in over a five years period with a 20 months gap between each course. According to the Council, the five subjects for community and hospital pharmacists provide the much needed comprehension on patient care and counselling.
The Council is now accepting renewal and new registrations online . This saves time and ensure transparency where the details are uploaded by the incumbent pharmacist. Its acceptance would be communicated before the certificate is issued. In order to maintain the details of all the registered pharmacists registered with the Council, it has mandated the need to submit a life certificate which is certified by a Gazetted officer.