Even as several batches of students of Pharm D have come out from several institutions and the qualified persons have proven their expertise neither the central government nor the state governments has created or identified a particular job opportunity for these degree holders,
Highlighting this issue, the eminent pharmacy academician from Jharkhand, Prof Dr Roop Narayan Gupta, has written to the Union government to interfere in this academic matter and find a solution considering the future of the course completed pharmacy personnel and to utilize their expertise for the ailing community.
The course is dedicated to provide well programmed pharmaceutical care to the patients. According to him, the Pharm D holders are clinical pharmacists and their role is well recognised in the developed countries and well defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO). So, it is high time the government allotted specific areas of the pharmacy profession for these clinically oriented professionals in pharmacy. Or else, the money and time they spent will go waste and the patient community will lose the chances to make the most of their expertise and services.
The letter states that the curriculum of the programme deals with pharmaceutical technology, pharmacology, pharmacotherapy, posology, clinical toxicology etc. through bed side training setup which helps to apply drug knowledge for better treatment options for the patients based on evidence based medicine. In spite of all these attributes, no government or healthcare institutions has identified a specific job or a particular area of the profession for them. Not only this, they have not been included in any of the health programmes such as TB control, malaria control, AIDS control..etc.
In a telephonic interview with Pharmabiz, Dr Gupta said there are hundreds of instances where in several patients died due to drug resistance and other unknown reasons. Today, the medical care has to be viewed with multi-dimensions such as ADR, rational usage of drugs, dosage, iatrogenic diseases, prevention of diseases, reducing the stay of patient in hospital, reduction in unnecessary consumption of medicines in patients and the like. The Pharm D holders have the expertise to deal with all these problems.
Commenting their expertise, Prof Gupta said that they are expert in medication therapy management (MTM), information about dosage regimen, patient's care in home to get proper therapeutic value of medication, storage of medicines at home, prevention of medication error at home/ hospital, prevention of accidental poisoning of children by medicines, preparation of dry granules into final preparation, care mainly during TB, malaria, dehydration, diabetes, blood pressure, diarrhoea, drug-drug interaction, drug-food interaction, drug-alcohol interaction, drug allergy, misuse of drugs, prevention of diseases, immunization, family planning tools, benefits of mother's milk, risk associated with self medication...etc
In the letter sent to the union health minister, Dr Gupta points out that Pharm D programme was introduced in India in 2008 by the union government under Section 10 of the Pharmacy Act 1948 and the programme was approved by Pharmacy Council of India.