Pharmaceutical Education in erstwhile Bombay State dates back to 1943 with introduction of 2 years BSc (Tech) in Pharmaceuticals and Fine Chemicals programme at UDCT, Matunga. Today, there are 9 Universities in Maharashtra viz., Mumbai, Pune, Shivaji, Amravati, Nagpur, North Maharashtra, SNDT, Marathwada Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar University and Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University. Number of degree colleges in the year 2003 were 52 out of which 10 were recognized as PG institutes.
In case of degree & PG Pharmacy Institutions, both the affiliating and examination conducting body is a concerned University. In the past, till 1984, the degree course was of 3 years duration after XII std in Science, the admission being restricted to candidates who have passed XII Science with Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics & English with minimum 50% marks - which was changed to 4 years duration in line with AICTE's recommendation.
The idea of separate Universities for Health Sciences was conceptualized following the emergence of Agricultural Universities in the country. In Maharashtra State, till 1988, Pharmacy education was in the conventional universities which also represent other scientific disciplines, social sciences and humanities
Diploma in Pharmacy
There are 67 diploma institutions in Maharashtra. The standards of these are controlled by Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), the affiliating body is Director of Technical Education and the exams are conducted by Board of Technical Examination. Both are government authorities.
After passing Diploma in Pharmacy examination from a PCI-recognized institution and completing 500 hours of practical training enables the candidate to get registered with Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council and practice pharmacy in the state.
Mumbai and other universities changed the pattern of the examination from 'annual' to semester. The course now consists of 8 semesters. The university conducts the examination only for 7th & 8th semesters while the colleges are supposed to conduct examinations from 1st to 6th semester as per the guidelines of the universities.
The number of Private unaided institutions increased this number to '52' in the year 2003 the earlier premier institutions include Prin.K.M.Kundnani College of Pharmacy (estd. 1971), Bombay College of Pharmacy(estd. 1971),Govt. College of Pharmacy, Karad (estd. 1965),Poona College of Pharmacy(estd. 1980), NDMVP Samaj College of Pharmacy, Nashik (1982) and three University Depts., viz., B.UDCT (B Pharm estd. 1958), Nagpur University (1957) and CU Shah College of Pharmacy, SNDT University (estd 1980).
Upgradation of Syllabus
Mumbai University is instrumental in brining in the following improvements in the pharmacy education curriculum.
-- The University realized the importance of 'Biotechnology' in pharmacy curriculum way back and introduced this subject at T.Y. BPharm as a 'full paper'.
-- Emphasis on medical sciences was expanded to include 'pathophysiology' which would aid in understanding disease symptoms better. Other supporting subjects included ' Advanced Biochemistry' which would enable the student to understand biochemical basis of Pharmacology and Medicinal Chemistry better. Also, it introduced Clinical Pharmacy & Drug Interactions which would be supplementing Hospital Pharmacy.
-- Certain subjects which would help the candidate in his entrepreneurship efforts included were 'Industrial Psychology', 'Computer Applications', 'Business Mathematics' (including Budgeting, Costing, Accountancy and Audits), Industrial Management including Marketing, Practice of Pharmacy (Community Pharmacy, Drug Store Management, Pharmaceutical Ethics & Forensic Pharmacy).
-- From the point of view of knowledge required for Pharmaceutical Industry, Pharmaceutical Engineering covering basic Principles of Engineering (mechanical & Electrical including what an electrician or mechanic is expected to know), Heat Engines, Dynamos, Electric Motors Power Generation & transmission, Elements of Chemical Engineering Pollution, Safety, Occupational Hazards, Equipment Maintenance.
-- From Fine chemicals & Drugs point of view, Drug Design, QSAR, Structure elucidation by the use of instruments and greater emphasis on Advanced Organic chemistry including transformations,etc., have been included.
-- Introduction of subject such as Biopharmaceutics & Pharmacokinetics to reinforce Pharmaceutics. Pharmaceutics has completely been modernized by introduction of topics such as New Drug Delivery Systems & Polymers and their application - Also 'Cosmetology' was introduced as a separate subject. Realizing the importance of QC & QA, Pharmaceutical Analysis had been introduced at B Pharm SY to Final Year.
-- Post- GATT era will bring forth Medicinal Plants & Ayurvedic System of Medicine. Realizing this, scope of Pharmacognosy was extended to include Phytochemistry, Ayurvedic Formulations,etc. MUHS improvised this syllabus further. Pune and other universities followed the suit. In short, the Maharashtra state universities have looked at the future changes and are preparing their students to meet the future challenges. The changes envisioned are:
-- 'Drug Product' focus to 'Patient Care' focus resulting in (i) Community Pharmacy - JSS College, Ooty has gone far ahead of everyone - Govt. Medical College, Thiruvananthpuram is actively practicing this.
-- Hospital Pharmacy to Clinical Pharmacy- Al-Ameen College in Bangalore, JSS College, Mysore and Govt. Medical College Thiruvananthpuram are leading in this field. However, Govt. College of Pharmacy, Karad, continues to march in the direction of Clinical Phar-macy and Toxicology.
-- Accreditation, Autonomy and Deemed University Status in Maharashtra can be compared only with Karnataka State in this context. The first college in Technical Education to bag 'A' Grade (75% marks or above) in accreditation conducted by AICTE for B Pharm was Prin. K. M. Kundnani College of Pharmacy, Worli, in 2001 followed by Bharatiya Vidyapeeth College of Pharmacy, Pune in 2002. The latter also had the distinction of getting "Deemed University Status" in 2002. One another college, Saraswati Vidya Bhavan's College of Pharmacy at Dombivli has been accredited by IAS-ANZ for ISO-9001:2000.
Industry-Institution Interaction:
Pharmacy institutions and pharmaceutical industry have grown together. The concept was started by Late Prof. ML Khorana at UDCT. Between 1957 and 1962, Prof. Khorana developed three raw materials for Dumex (Later acquired by Pfizer) - These included PAS and Isoniazid (Isonex), both antitubercular drugs and Protein Hydrolysate (Protinex) - He set up the plants for the same at Sewri. He also helped several other industries in the synthesis of new drugs, isolation of natural products & so on. Dr. Lalla developed pilot plants for formulation development, bulk drug development as well as plant extraction facility and analytical method deve-lopment with all state-of-the-art instruments, at Prin.K.M.Kundnani College of Pharmacy.
Bombay College of Pharmacy could develop strong industry - institution interaction with the support of IPA. These two institutes' role was emulated by young pharmaceutical section teachers at UDCT. Simultaneously, CU Shah College of Pharmacy could bring a lot of interaction with industry. Pune,Nashik & Auran-gabad followed suit.
Going a step further, two of the institutions have started Contract Manufacturing Units. They are Bharati Vidyapeeth's College of Pharmacy at Pune and AppaSaheb Birnale College of Pharmacy at Sangli. Thus, the institutions are now trying to find methods at raising funds alternate to industry - Institution interaction.
-- The author is former principal, K M Kundnani College of Pharmacy, Mumbai