Subodh P Priolkar, president of Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA) is also the 'Chief Operating Officer' of Mumbai IPC and co-ordinates various organizational aspects of such a mega event with professional precision and perfection. He elaborates how the Mumbai IPC will be different from previous editions, on IPA and some professional issue
Unlike the previous IPCs, there is a welcome change in the composition and contents for deliberations at the 58th IPC, especially in the case of guest speakers and industry participation. Why?
The Indian pharmaceutical industry and pharmacy profession is going through a crucial period, and we wish to make the IPC deliberations and Vision 2020 as the launch pad for catapulting the industry to greater heights. Therefore, we decided to make the scientific programmes, whether technical or non-technical, to be of worth to the industry and profession to yield long and short-term results.
Our achievements in the field of manufacturing, the emerging trends in industry and community pharmacy, outsourcing and R&D, globalisation of Indian Pharma, the new patent regime etc. all make the pharmacist community in India more responsible and pose numerous challenges and opportunities. IPC, the pivotal platform for our growth strategies, need to work out the roles, relationships, responsibilities, resources and what role each segments of the industry and trade, technical and non-technical associations, regulators etc. should play to ensure that the Indian Pharma is able to reach its targets and goals by 2020 or 2025.
Now our industry is just about US $ 8.5 billion with a growth rate of 12-15% annually. The projections say India will become a $ 25 billion industry by 2010, which means our resources, manpower and infrastructure have to increase by four to five times.Similarly, our community pharmacy system also should undergo reforms to achieve global standards. Pharmacy education also requires drastic improvement, as our syllabus was designed about 15 years ago. The IPC will discuss in detail all these aspects, mainly 'Roles, Responsibilities and Resources' and will come out with a white paper. This will be forwarded to the concerned policy makers and stakeholders of the industry as an action plan to realize our targets and we will follow up it in the coming years.
Apart from this aspect, how the Mumbai IPC will be different?
This will be the first IPC to use the advantages of technology, similar to many international shows. We are introducing bar-coding with an electronically enabled badge provided to the delegates. One advantage is that this will do away the commotion for securing coupons for lunch. Wastage of food and cost-control is another advantage of using technology. More importantly, we will be able to assess the correct number and profile of delegates and visitors.
Mumbai IPC is going to be the biggest IPC ever held, and the exhibition will be thrice the size of the IPC Hyderabad. Already, 16,000 sq. mt. of space have been sold for the CphI and PHARMAceutical EXPO. The major highlight of the conference is the inaugural symposium involving six of the senior most industry stalwarts. Out of the 50 odd speakers for the conference, at least 17 are from abroad. The FIP President Dr Kamal Metha, who is also the first person of Indian origin to assume this chair, is attending the conference. More than 30 per cent of the registration so far is from the industry, which was hardly 5% in the previous editions.
As we reported earlier, there were differences among the IPCA member associations on various issues. Will this affect the conduct of IPC, Mumbai?
Though there were differences, all the constituent member associations of IPCA had said they would support the conduct of IPC. We are happy to say that all the differences have been settled amicably. Now onwards, one association will be given responsibility to conduct the IPC and the other members will support it. The Mumbai IPC is the responsibility of IPA, and the next year IPC will be organized by APTI. The other associations will also get their chance on a rotation basis. We have also arrived at a few basic benchmarks for selecting the IPCA president.
IPA has 10,000 odd members and 63 branches in different parts of the country, which makes it the largest pharma community association in the country. But the involvement of IPA in framing the various policies related to the profession and industry is very minimal when compared to three or four industry organizations. Your comments
It is true that IPA is not getting the deserving role it can play in framing the future of Indian pharma. Associations like IPAlliance, IDMA and OPPI are aggressive in their attitude to protect the business interests of their members and therefore they fight and lobby with the Government. More vociferous they are, more the media attention they get and that forces the Government to invite them to the negotiation table. This may be one reason why the Government ignores the voice of IPA while framing policies. IPA does not have any business interests and we stand for overall development of the community and profession. We conduct numerous projects and programmes for the betterment of the society and profession, but very often the Government and media ignore our endeavours.
The decision makers should realize that independent organizations like IPA could support the Government on various aspects for bettering the profession and industry, including non-technical areas.
However, I would like to state that IPA has representation in Drug Technical Advisory Board (DTAB), Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), Macro Economies for Health and we are a stakeholder in USP.
What are the ongoing initiatives for the betterment of profession and industry?
We will soon undertake a nationwide survey to assess the status of technical manpower in the country, with the help of students of various pharmacy colleges and by roping in a professional organization. This is very important considering the growth prospects of Indian industry. It is sad that we lack comprehensive and authentic data and statistics on many aspects of industry and profession. At present, we lack even a complete list with address of pharmacy colleges in India, and parents/students have to search around for such information. We are also planning more market surveys, data mobilization and management with the help of professionals in that field, useful to industry and profession.
Our community outreach programmes like TB Fact Card Project we conducted in Mumbai and Navi Mumbai region was a big success and the pharmacists who participated have been included in the DOT programme.Along with WHO and the DCGI's office we came out with the GPP guidelines. About 20 training programmes are being held in different parts of the country to implement these guidelines and about 1500 copies have been distributed. Another 1000 copies will be distributed soon. We are also planning an ambitious project to give accreditation for pharmacies, and to implement GPP in Indian pharmacies. We are discussing with FIP and WHO to launch it on a pilot scale.