Last month Pharmabiz carried a report stating that 8345 seats for B Pharm course are going vacant in Andhra Pradesh for the academic year 2013-14. In the previous year, Andhra faced the same situation of not having students for 8150 seats in the state’s 280 pharmacy colleges spread across in 28 districts. And five to ten pharmacy colleges reported zero admissions for B Pharm course during the current year. The report further says that despite a sharp rise in number of vacant seats in the state, some pharmacy colleges are adding more seats every year. If this is the status of Andhra, one can very well imagine what is happening in 2000 other pharmacy colleges in the country. Exact number of vacant seats in all pharmacy colleges in the country for the current academic year is not available. But, Andhra case is indicative of the state of affairs of pharmacy education in the country today. According to an estimate, there should be at least 30,000 B Pharm seats lying vacant in pharmacy colleges in the country in the current academic year. In Gujarat, a few pharmacy colleges already shut down early this year for want of students. Many more pharmacy colleges may face the same fate in southern and northern states soon as they all are not able to get adequate number of students for the last two years.
One of the main reasons for the steady increase in the number of vacant seats for B Pharm course is the drop in quality of educational facilities in pharmacy colleges. Many of them do not have required lab infrastructure and competent faculty members to teach the students. Wherever the standard facilities are provided, managements have no difficulty in getting students for the pharmacy course. Moreover the students are also selecting colleges based on their track record in job placements. As per norms laid down by the Pharmacy Council of India, all pharmacy colleges need to have 10 labs with required equipments, four class rooms and 24 qualified faculty members. The fact is that most of the country’s pharmacy colleges do not have these basic facilities. Quality of faculty in pharmacy colleges has been a matter of serious concern for PCI with the increasing number of colleges over the years. Many college managements are found to be taking even fresh graduates for the teaching assignments because of increasing demand for qualified and experienced faculty. What the PCI and AICTE have done to address this matter so far is a big question. PCI has to keep track of these basic facilities in pharmacy colleges if it has to be the guardian of quality of pharmacy education in the country. Apart from this, there is a need to harmonize pharmacy education in the country with global standards so as to make it a well recognised, critical and indispensable clinical profession. For this, the current curricula for the pharmacy courses including the one for diploma course needs to be drastically changed.