Even as the heat and dust raised by the PCI's recent decision not to recognize the MS programmes being conducted in NIPERs refuses to die down with the affected students continuing their silent protests, the officiating director of NIPER, Mohali, professor K K Bhutani has clarified that the masters and doctoral level courses offered by the NIPERs are carefully designed and delivered. "There is sufficient flexibility for a student to select courses according to the requirement of the field one is specializing in. The master degree programmes have a novelty and modernity in their formulation and execution," he said.
In a rather long clarification, professor Bhutani says that the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research and Indian Institutes of Technology are not encumbered with any requirements of the Medical Council of India or the All India Council for Technical Education, respectively; likewise, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, an institution of national importance, functions and is governed by its own statute, the NIPER Act 1998, and is independent from the purview of the Pharmacy Council of India and AICTE.
Read on what Prof Bhutani has to say on the issue:
NIPER M S and Traditional M.Pharm. Degrees
1.The creation and academic structuring of the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) became possible on the recommendations of the Special Committee of the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India, formed in March 1987. The establishment of the NIPER at S.A.S. Nagar (Mohali) took place under the aegis of the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals, Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers, Government of India. Formally the Institute stood formed on 15 February 1991. The director and the core faculty joined in 1994 and development of the Institute started. The statute National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Act, 1998, followed.
2.As per the Act the NIPER is "an institution of national importance". Under the statutorily laid norms the NIPER is mandated 'to nurture and promote quality and excellence in pharmaceutical education and research', 'to develop a world level centre for creation of new knowledge and transmission of existing information in pharmaceutical areas, with a focus on national, educational, professional and industrial commitments', and 'to develop a multi-disciplinary approach in carrying out research and training of pharmaceutical manpower so that the larger interests of the profession, academia and pharmaceutical industry are better served and a pharmaceutical work culture is evolved which is in tune with the changing world trends and patterns of pharmaceutical education and research', in addition to listed other functions. What the nation requires the NIPER to deliver has been clearly enunciated.
3.The NIPER at S.A.S. Nagar has made a laudable progress and has emerged as a seat of higher pharmaceutical learning and research of world level. The Institute has justified its creation as a centre of excellence. The major strength of the Institute is the academic structuring with a focus on interdisciplinary approach to moulding and grooming the young students to acquire in-depth knowledge in the respective specialities.
4.The master and doctoral level courses offered are carefully designed and delivered. There is sufficient flexibility for a student to select courses according to the requirement of the field one is specializing in. The master degree programmes have a novelty and modernity in their formulation and execution. The specialisations offered include M.S.(Pharm.) in medicinal chemistry, natural products, traditional medicines, pharmaceutical analysis, pharmacology & toxicology, regulatory toxicology, pharmaceutics, biotechnology, and pharmacokinetics; M.Pharm. in pharmaceutical technology (formulations), and pharmacy practice; M.Tech.(Pharm.) in pharmaceutical technology(bulk drugs), pharmaceutical technology(biotechnology); and M.B.A.(Pharm.); and Ph.D. in different disciplines. The academicians and scientists visiting the Institute from abroad are amazed at the uniqueness of the Institute providing international level facilities for education and research in all the pharmaceutical disciplines at a single location. For its quality of performance, the NIPER (SAS Nagar) has earned a name nationally and world over in top pharmaceutical and related circles.
5.The credit for developing this centre of excellence and earning approbations goes to the talented students joining the institute from all over the country, even some from abroad, and the faculty selected considering the merit, ability and capability possessed by each to meaningfully contribute to the broad objectives of producing high grade pharmaceutical scientists, technologists and professionals. The students and the faculty on the NIPER campus constitute a talented cosmopolitan community, working towards better comprehension of what is known and creation of new knowledge.
6.The All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research and Indian Institutes of Technology are not encumbered with any requirements of the Medical Council of India or the All India Council for Technical Education, respectively; likewise, the National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, an institution of national importance, functions and is governed by its own statute, the NIPER Act 1998, and is independent from the purview of the Pharmacy Council of India and AICTE.
7.It becomes necessary to elaborate on the Pharmacy Council of India and its educational role, what the 'Pharmacy' term implies, and recent controversy which has been aired regarding suitability of MS degree holders from the NIPER for teaching at pharmaceutical institutions recognized by the PCI.
8.The Pharmacy Act 1948 provides for regulation of the profession and practice of pharmacy. The Pharmacy Council of India, constituted under the Act, make regulations called the Education Regulations, prescribing the minimum standard of education required for qualification as a pharmacist. The Education Regulations for the first time were made in 1953, and revised in 1972, 1981, and 1991. The minimum standard at present is a two-years diploma course after a pass in intermediate examination in science or other equivalent qualifications. During the 1990s, unsuccessful attempts were made by the PCI to revise Education Regulations 1991 and make the B.Pharm. degree as the minimum qualification for registration as a pharmacist. It is wrong to presume that B.Pharm. course as such comes under the purview of the PCI. The PCI only considers the interested degree institutions to assess if the essential features of the diploma ER are covered at the respective schools running the degree courses; this enables B.Pharm. graduates of such institutions to register as pharmacists.
9.Of recent the Pharmacy Council of India has formulated and notified regulations for Pharm.D. degree, the course spanning over six years, after 10+2 or D.Pharm; including 5 years of clinical and community based studies with ward rounds and final year of internship in hospital; there is provision for the present B.Pharm. degree holder to acquire Pharm.D. qualification through further course of 3 years duration. There is a controversy about this ambitious programme. When we are still far from fully ensuring a lower level of professional pharmaceutical support to the masses, the Pharm.D. level of pharmaceutical care to the nation is a dream for the future which may take many decades to be realised.
10.World over, the denotation 'Pharmacy' stands for pharmacy practice which implies practice in community and institutional(hospital) settings; this is the kind of vocation the Pharmacy Act regulates. One who engages in pharmacy practice is a pharmacist. The D.Pharm. and Pharm.D. courses coming under the purview of the PCI are there to primarily provide manpower for pharmacy practice.
11.There is no statutory exclusivity for B.Pharm. graduates in our country for job placements. For the purpose of registration as pharmacists the PCI inspects the pharmacy schools to determine whether the course work covers the syllabi contents as per diploma course under the PCI regulations. Otherwise the B.Pharm. courses come under the purview of the All India Council for Technical Education. In the Drug Rules 71 and 76 under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, for the purpose of drug manufacture a graduate in Science with chemistry as a principal subject with three years' practical experience in the manufacture of drugs is placed at par with a fresh graduate in pharmacy or pharmaceutical chemistry who had eighteen months' practical experience in drug manufacture after graduation; under these Rules the study of drug related subjects for a degree of pharmacy is not taken to be of much advantage. The pharmacy graduates are not keen to adopt pharmacy practice as their vocation since the latter has not yet attained a sufficient of prestige as a profession. No wonder every pharmacy graduate yearns to go for a postgraduate qualification. A confusion continues.
12.We borrowed the concept of training bachelors of pharmacy (B.Pharm.) from Britain over seven decades back. There the pharmacy graduates mostly go for pharmacy practice and the courses are designed as per requirements of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, earlier designated as Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, a semi-official pharmaceutical body. A membership of the Society (M.P.S.) is a statutory need for pharmacy practice. At some stage two of the total sixteen schools of pharmacy also had some industrial orientation which they gave up when the Britain joined the European Union to fall in line with the pharmacy practices in the continental Europe. The pharmacy graduation had a well defined focus.
13.Now in Britain for practice of pharmacy the curricular requirement stands upgraded to master of pharmacy (M.Pharm.) status; a B.Pharm. degree is not in vogue any more. M.Pharm. degree is truely a professional degree necessary for practicing the pharmacy profession. If a pharmacy school runs any other master course with pharmaceutical orientation, the degree granted does not carry the M.Pharm. title. For the purpose of illustration we may look at the courses of study at the School of Pharmacy of the University of London. The School grants M.Pharm. degree for one to qualify for M.P.S. designation for pharmacy practice. The School also has programmes for postgraduation in Clinical Pharmacy, International Practice and Policy; Drug Delivery; Drug Discovery; and Pharmacognosy; such postgraduates are granted M.Sc. degrees and they are not entitled for pharmacy practice. Another important centre in Britain, Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences of the University of Strathclyde at Glasgow, 'ranked first for pharmacy and second for pharmacy & pharmacology in the United Kingdom'; conducts studies leading to master degrees in analysis of Medicines; Clinical Pharmacy; Pharmaceutical Analysis; and Pharmaceutical Quality & Drug manufacturing Practice; and such postgraduates again, are given M.Sc. degrees. Apparently, in Britain there is a clear line drawn between the postgraduate degrees for entitlement to pharmacy practice and postgraduations in other specialisations of pharmaceutical nature.
14.In the United States of America, and the countries subscribing to their professional pharmacy culture, for quite some time Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm.D.) is the qualification required to engage in pharmacy practice. Some pharmacy schools in the USA provide for postgraduation; the candidates so qualifying are granted M.S./Ph.D. degrees but these qualifications are not acceptable for practice of pharmacy. The PCI has adopted the Pharm.D. qualifying system from America.
15.Before proceeding further, a mention may be made about the master courses we conduct at our pharmacy schools, the degrees as such have no statutory entitlement for practice in pharmacy, not even for jobs in the pharmaceutical industry. The Banaras Hindu University instituted a course of research leading to Master of Pharmacy (M.Pharm.) in April 1940, when even the first B.Pharm. batch had not come out. Before the new baccalaureate degree of its own kind in India at the time could stabilize its position, attain for itself an acceptable professional status and ensure for the graduates adequate job placements, steadily masters of pharmacy started overshadowing the B.Pharm. degree holders. As the master studies spread, the usual specializations remained the pharmaceutical chemistry, pharmaceutics, pharmacognosy, and pharmacology for several decades; some changes in this rigid stratification started much later. The PCI list the M.Pharm. degree for the purpose of teaching as per Education Regulations; otherwise these degrees fall under the purview of the AICTE. An indiscriminate spread of the postgraduations has debased the degree.
16.When the Special Committee of the HRD Ministry debated on the objects and scope of the new institution the developments as narrated above had taken place in the western world or were in the offing. The descriptor 'Pharmacy' there is reserved for pharmacy practice; the way we use it is a misnomer. The Committee aimed at a pharmaceutical work culture in tune with 'the changing world trends and patterns of pharmaceutical education and research' and going in for 'multidisciplinary approach in carrying out research and training of pharmaceutical manpower', the objective which later got to be made obligatory through the NIPER Act.
17.It needs a little explanation that why the Special Committee decided for name and acronym Master of Pharmacy (M.S.). The traditional name Master of Pharmacy (M.Pharm.) was not acceptable, as the postgraduates trained at the NIPER, as 'Pharmacy' as understood world over refers to pharmacy practice. There was not going to be a statutory sanction for them to become pharmacy practitioners. Further, the designation M.Sc. was also discarded since that notation in our country applies to masters in pure science disciplines.
18.The Committee had recommended M.S., the inappropriate change at the NIPER (S.A.S. Nagar) to M.S. (Pharm.) took place later. There is a case for not only reverting to MS designation in general but also for the traditional M.Pharm. degrees given to two of the courses, to go under the same common title. This will be in line with the approach world over for reserving 'pharmacy' descriptor for pharmacy practice and 'pharmacist' for pharmacy practitioners.
19.It is irrational to club any and every pharmaceutical activity under the head 'Pharmacy'. This makes the real pharmacy - pharmacy practice - to suffer. Pharmacy is a very important component of health care and its promotion needs our undiluted focus and attention.
20.Having projected the above composite picture, finally, a few words about suitability of NIPER M.S. postgraduates for teaching at our pharmaceutical schools. One has to look at the academic structuring and course contents evolved and delivered at the NIPER. The multi-and interdisciplinary approach followed has enabled provision of a greater depth in the respective specialities and the borderline subjects of study. The feedback the Institute has gathered, from experts within the country and in the western world, shows that the postgraduates from the NIPER are better equipped academically than the postgraduates from the existing teaching institutions. We should not be put off by the notation of the degree, which has been done for the reasons elaborated above. Let us respect the international prestige the NIPER, S.A.S.Nagar(Mohali) has earned and encourage the institution, which is today pride of the nation, to do still better.