With a few weeks left for beginning new academic year for pharmacy courses, the pharmacy colleges in Tamil Nadu are getting ready for the new batch of admissions.
Process of admissions will start from June second week to July end; and the classes will start from August first week as per university schedules. All over Tamil Nadu, 48 colleges are conducting various courses in pharmacy, and these institutions are affiliated to various universities.
Though many medical colleges are there in the government sector, only four institutions are running pharmacy courses. Out of these four, two colleges, medical colleges at Thanjavur and Coimbatore, have only Diploma course in Pharmacy. Degree and PG programs are conducted at the pharmacy colleges attached with Madras Medical College and Madurai Medical College. Unfortunately, no government institution has started the six-year Pharm D program yet.
While interacting with Pharmabiz, academicians from pharmacy colleges in the private sector said they expect sufficient number of students for all the courses this year also. For the last three academic years, no college in the state is facing any shortage of students and 60 percent of the students they get are meritorious ones. Now the passed out students, whether D Pharm or B Pharm or M Pharm, get employments in companies or institutions, otherwise they become self-employed. So, plenty of students are opting for pharmacy course, said Dr. B. Jayakar, principal of Vinayaka College of Pharmacy at Salem.
Dr. Jayakar, who is also one of the executive committee members of the state pharmacy council, while briefing course details, said before three years all the pharmacy colleges in Tamil Nadu had registered very few number of admissions for various courses. But the situation improved soon with more admissions from outside states. Now, 48 institutions are conducting degree and PG programs, with 20 colleges conducting Pharm D. Diploma course.
Regarding Pharm D program in government colleges, Dr. Jayakar said pharmacy council has submitted a proposal to the government for starting the program at the pharmacy colleges attached with the medical colleges in Chennai and Madurai. Only the colleges running degree and PG courses can go with Pharm D. He said government is likely to consider the proposal this year.
About job opportunities for the passed out graduates, especially for those Pharm D holders, he said most of the first and second batches of the passed out Pharm D graduates have found positions in corporate hospitals as clinical pharmacists and in industrial sector as clinical coordinators for monitoring trials, scientific writing and interacting with health professionals for providing information on medicines. According to him, the scope of employment for pharmacy graduates is increasing day by day all over the world.