The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) will join hands with Bureau of Pharma PSUs of India (BPPI), the nodal agency for implementing the central scheme Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP), which envisages 1000 Jan Aushadhi Stores (JAS) all over India.
The pharmacy educational institutions in various parts of the country will be attached to the scheme which will enable the students to avail hands-on training in dispensing of medicines and handling of pharmacies, said Dr B Suresh, president of the PCI.
With this joint initiative, once the students complete their courses, they will become full-fledged pharmacists with hands-on experience. Further, this will inspire students’ entrepreneurial talents which will help them open their own pharmacy outlets after their study, he added.
The PCI president was speaking at a function organised by the state pharmacy council in Kerala.
Later while speaking to Pharmabiz, Dr Suresh said the students, during their course of study, will be trained in drug-store handling, dispensing, inventory management and patient counseling. In foreign countries, especially in the countries in the west, students pursuing pharmacy programs engage in the operations of pharmacies in hospitals and community level as part of their curriculum. Government of India’s scheme, Jan Aushadhi Stores, will help the pharmacy institutions in India to adapt the foreign educational system with practice in pharmacy management. So, PCI has decided to support BPPI in opening as much JAS as possible with the help of pharmacy colleges.
As part of it, the president of the pharmacy council will travel across the country to visit all the institutions and explain the academic community and the management about the joint initiative. The first PCI – Institution meeting will be held in Kerala on May 9 at YMCA Hall at Ernakulam. Representatives from all the colleges and the nodal officers of the BPPI will attend the meeting, said he.
“With this scheme, the pharmacy curriculum will have the integration of both theory and practice of pharmacy profession. The standard of our pharmacy education will become on par with international disciplines. Training in pharmacies will become part of the course and students of all colleges will get training in the Jan Aushadhi Stores started by the BPPI, either in the institution itself or outside. In another three months, I will be travelling to all the institutions in the country to give awareness about the joint scheme and to get the support of the college managements, academia and students”, he told Pharmabiz.
Dr Suresh hopes that with the amalgamation of training in pharmacy practice and theory, pharmacy courses can be oriented towards making the students fully developed professionals in community pharmacy and hospital pharmacy, and also for industry orientation for manufacturing and testing of drugs.
PCI is stepping into the novel scheme at a time when the government of India has started campaign for the availability of quality generic medicines at affordable prices to the public. Government is also funding for establishing JAS stores and supporting with sufficient supply of medicines. PCI needs to share this information with each college and motivate them to start PMJAS stores in the premises of all institutions.
The PCI will approach the union government with a request for speedy implementation of Pharmacy Practice Regulations- 2015 all over the country, he said in his speech at Thiruvananthapuram.