The Union government’s move to launch pharmacy refresher course for unqualified persons working medical shops is not an acceptable move. This is similar to the government’s earlier efforts to introduce 3-year MBBS course, pointed out Dr. BR Jagashetty, former National Adviser (Drugs Control) to MoHFW.
The government introduced the Pharmacy Practice Regulations (PPR) 2015 in January last year and Karnataka also gazetted the same recently becoming the first state in the country to do so. In view of this PPR 2015, the responsibility of the pharmacist has increased tremendously. It is not merely dispensing of medicines but patient counselling on drug dosage regime, adverse reactions and other matters relating to the rational use of medication etc. “When PPR 2015 is a landmark move giving pharmacists a status in healthcare space, where is the question of training non-pharmacist with a refresher course,” queried Dr. Shetty adding that the government should immediately change its stand on this issue.
Going by PPR 2015, a certain responsibility is listed and this can be carried out only by those who are qualified in the subject of pharmacy. “We would also see in a couple years B Pharm students to be preferred candidates over the Diploma in Pharmacy. For a knowledge driven sector like pharmaceuticals, only higher the qualification will benefit. Moreover, pharmacy is a branch of learning with ample technical know-how. Candidates need to be familiar with chemistry and biology, pharmacology, pharmacognosy, among others to advise on drug interaction. Therefore, this is not a right move by the government to train unqualified candidates for pharmacy refresher course,” Dr. Jagashetty told Pharmabiz.
Currently, minimum qualification of D Pharm is mandated to work as a pharmacist in a retail outlet. Specifically for a pharmacist, his role in a pharmacy outlet is not mere picking up a drug off the shelf and selling. There is need to have ample comprehension of the drug contents and the ability to understand the doctor’s prescription which could contain more than one drug as a treatment protocol. For this even a B Pharm candidate needs to undergo the required training to enhance knowledge and thereby ensure right drug is sold, he noted.
According to the Pharmacy Council of India(PCI), nearly one lakh pharmacists are being generated annually from its 1100 pharmacy colleges in the country. Hence India has no dearth of pharmacists. There may be shortfall of qualified pharmacists in some states but largely the country has sufficient qualified workforce in this field. Thus, there is no question to access unqualified workforce for this sector, he pointed out.
In fact training unqualified persons in pharmacy is similar to the presence of quacks in the medical profession. Now that the government has a created an anti quackery cell in every state medical council, it is high time that government and state Pharmacy Councils too create some cells to look into quack pharmacists who can be brought to book. Further it is also high time to make efforts by all concerned to get the recognition of pharmacy profession with the introduction of its importance in school text books like that of other professions, he stated.
“Here my recommendation of introducing a ‘Biometric Pharmacy Card’ along with ‘Prescription Audit’ for rationality of prescription contents will stand to gain. It will create an immediate impact on the role of a qualified pharmacist in society. It will also improve the status of pharmacist and pharmacy profession whereby reinstate the fact that an unqualified person would in no way be able replace a qualified pharmacist”, said Dr Jagashetty.