Standards of pharmacy education in India, facilities at the colleges and the competence of faculty continue to remain pathetic despite vibrant growth achieved by the pharmaceutical industry during the last 25 years. A report, published by Chronicle Pharmabiz in the issue dated January 25, tells briefly about the state of affairs in pharmacy colleges in south. The situation can only be worse in north. The report says that a majority of pharmacy colleges, operating in these states, are being run without qualified faculty and some of them even do not have competent principals at the top. All these are colleges approved by the prestigious All India Council of Technical Education and it has clearly laid down specific qualifications required for the faculty. As the pharmacy colleges in India are controlled by managements having mainly commercial interests, such lapses in maintaining standards of faculty should be expected. AICTE being the central authority for all technical education in the country, regular monitoring and inspection of these technical educational institutes is its sole responsibility. And it is expected to conduct periodic and surprise inspections of pharmacy colleges and take actions against the defaulting managements. The Pharmabiz report states that AICTE has not been carrying out any inspections in most of the pharmacy colleges in the south. Such regular monitoring of the working of pharmacy colleges is key to produce quality pharmacy professionals for the country.
Pharmaceutical science and technology has made tremendous progress over the years and the role of the pharmacist is undergoing a dramatic change world over. Whereas in India, the pharmacist continues to be a backroom boy of a pharmaceutical factory or a salesman in a retail pharmacy. For thousands of pharmacy graduates and postgraduates coming out of pharmacy colleges in the country, the target is a job in a pharma company. Now, with the increasing automation in pharmaceutical industry, the job prospects for pharmacy graduates are increasingly shrinking. A large number of pharmacy graduates in India are unemployed or underemployed. In short, this well respected profession in most parts of world, is getting a raw deal in India. This is primarily because of a lack of focus and orientation in pharmacy education in India. There has been no serious attempt to modify the curricula of pharmacy education in India. At the same time, manufacturing standards, quality control practices, research activities and clinical practices in this industry have undergone critical changes during these years. A fresh graduate coming out of a pharmacy college is largely oblivious of these ground realities. With growing internationalisation of Indian pharmaceutical industry, the standards of pharmacy education need to be world class. For this, Pharmacy Council of India, being the apex body of pharmacists in the country, needs to come forward in influencing the government to raise standards of pharmacy education. AICTE is an apex body for all technical education in the country whereas PCI is a central body specific to pharmacy profession. PCI has to, therefore, play a proactive role in revising and modifying the curriculum and adopt an overseeing role in running of pharmacy colleges.