The minimum qualification for registration as a pharmacist in India is a diploma in pharmacy from an institution approved by Pharmacy Council of India. These diploma-trained pharmacists are the mainstay of pharmacy practice. Although pharmacy education has expanded several times at various levels including Pharm D programme, diploma pharmacists are practising pharmacists in the international sense as they engage both in private retail pharmacy or public institutional pharmacy practice settings. These diploma holders are the ones who manage majority of 7.5 million retail pharmacies in India. Currently, the demand of diploma pharmacists is further growing with the growth due to entry of major retail chain pharmacy stores.

Data obtained from Pharmacy Council of India’s website (www.pci.nic.in) makes a very interesting read in terms of diploma pharmacy programme in India. The data of past years gives an indication that there has been rapid expansion in diploma in pharmacy education, with student enrolment growing at about 7.5 per cent annually over the past years. This may come as somewhat of a surprise to those advocating upgradation from D. Pharm. to B. Pharm. as minimum qualification for registration. In contrast to the international trends, the profession of pharmacy practice is still dominated by diploma pharmacists both in private and public pharmacies. The predominant high proportion of these pharmacists has significant implications for the pharmacy practice, with diploma pharmacists having skills and training earned will fail to deliver effective patient care role.  Around 40000 diploma holders (Table 1) enter the profession each year without being taught patient care concepts and many other areas of modern pharmacy skills.

When looking at enrolment ratios I find that the ratios vary across Indian states, with southern and Western states favouring better than their Eastern and North Eastern counterparts (Table 1). Further the enrolment ratio and also number of institutes is greatest in Maharasthra and Karnataka and significantly least in states like Assam and Bihar (Table 2).

Many states viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Meghalaya and a few Union Territories fail to establish an institute to train pharmacists even after 60 years of constitution of Pharmacy Council of India. This leads to acute shortage of pharmacists in these areas and push the demand for drug retailers to mange the retail pharmacies and will give rise to a roadblock to access of medicines.

Pharmacy practice is changing. The list of skills pharmacists will need to enable them to deliver patient care role is getting progressively larger and more complex. The diploma holders graduating from a curriculum revised more than two decades back is no suffice. The much talked and advocated Bachelor of Pharmacy graduates as pharmacists is not better than diploma holders as it does not fulfil the task of producing pharmacists who are trained on patient oriented line.

What is needed? A pharmacist is one who works serving a population is in a position of trust and great responsibility. The primary work involves dispensing medicines prescribed by doctors to their patients or clients. They offer advice to patients and doctors regarding dosage, possible contraindications, interactions between medicines, OTC medicines, cheaper alternatives to generic medicines and any side effect that may result from taking medicine(s). Therefore the education of pharmacists is a very important issue, since pharmacists are responsible for safe and effective use of medicines.  

Several arguments have been put forward regarding up gradation of minimum qualification for registration to B. Pharm. level. However, the main issue is the metamorphosis of curriculum. The syllabus and curriculum Diploma in Pharmacy or even Bachelor of Pharmacy requires orientation to fulfil skill requirement in patient care role. The pharmacy practice education should be strengthened by clearly specifying the role of each stakeholder in a transparent way. As the world of pharmaceutical science continuously made advancements, metamorphosis of curriculum is the need of the day to prepare pharmacists for the new areas of pharmacy and medicine breakthroughs.

A more intensive approach should be taken to study pharmacy practice education and training needs. One of the best ways is through the development of strategic partnerships among all stakeholders including practising pharmacists (both private and Government settings). Our country therefore needs to make a consolidated effort to study and address the mainstay pharmacy practice education issues.