The objective of this article is to make a 'SWOT analysis' (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, Threat) of our pharmacy profession in its present scenario and making an effort to get the deserved reputation for the profession in our country.
Strength
The value of Pharma Industry is growing from strength to strength and as per an Ernst & Young report last year, the value of the pharma market was estimated at $4.5 billion and India occupies the fifth position in the world in manufacture of bulk drugs.
The pharmaceutical industry plays a crucial role in building a country's human capital. In India, it is among the top science-based industries with a wide range of capabilities in the complex field of drug technology and manufacture. The industry's crucial role in the economy is evident from the improvement in life expectancy -- a lead indicator, which has risen in India from 41.32 years in the sixties to 61 years. With increased availability of medicine and healthcare facilities the mortality rate has come down considerably.
Weakness
About 25 years ago the number of pharmacy graduates who passed out were very meager and it was rare to see M Pharms, PhD holders and pharma graduates with management degrees. But nowadays there are about 300 pharma colleges with M Pharma/PhD and almost 35,000 pharmacists available even with Bio-Tech, Bio Informatics and IT background.
Today the industry as well as the academic institutions are growing well, are our pharma professionals happy? Will they be able to equate their development on par with other disciplines in India. The remuneration, recognition and the prevailing disparity brings a big question mark.
So, what is our problem?
The main problem is even after 55 years of our nation's Independence, pharmacy has not been able to get proper recognition on par with the professions of medicine, engineering, veterinary, agriculture and science.
Pharma professionals are involved in the noble task of making drugs and pharmaceuticals for the human being. We investigate, involve in research, synthesize manufacture and standardise the unit dosage forms of drugs for the well being of the society. Can there be a better contribution to the society than this? Then why is proper recognition to our profession being denied?
Opportunities
The big chance for India is to conquer knowledge-based industries like pharmaceuticals around the world. Till recently Indian pharmacologists were known for their ability to deconstruct any patented drug within months. This enabled Indian companies to leverage costs and produce the same drug at one-fifth the cost. Today the very same skill sets are being used to derive new drugs, delivery systems and processes.
The pharmaceutical sector is faced with a mammoth challenge of providing healthcare in the second most populous country of the world. Pharma companies which are locally bred or of international parentage have increasingly realized the significance of the challenge. The time is ripe to bring out the hidden potential for both survival and sustenance.
The industry is likely to see more consolidation and mergers in the years to come. Such developments will only be helping the industry's maturity. The healthcare scene will also see the various participants, practitioners, clinics, hospitals and consumers becoming more organized with clearly defined duties and responsibilities.
Pharmaceuticals will be one of the most happening sectors in the next decade globally and also in India with the onset of these trends. So we have enormous scope for our profession in coming days.
Threat
It is deplorable that non-pharma professionals who never studied pharmacy subjects and do not know the nitty-gritty's of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act & Rules are being appointed to various posts in the pharma industry. At times, we are worried about adulterated or substandard drug in the market and will such appointments render justice to this anomaly? This problem is due to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act 1940 being framed much before Independence. It contains objectionable and obsolete Recruitment Rules conveniently made, which has diluted the novelty and ethics of our profession.
When various acts and policies are being changed every year according to the need, say for example, the Exim policy, Foreign Policy the why not this Drugs and Cosmetics Act be changed as per today's need? We cannot perform the duties and responsibilities of a doctor, engineer, veterinarian, agriculturist and others, same way professionals from other streams cannot perform our duty and responsibilities?
The profession of pharmacy is around six-decade old in the country but it is very unfortunate that it could not have a University of its own in many states of the country. It is unbearable that being a faculty member of the University, your are not allowed to occupy the post of Vice-Chancellor, Controller of Examination, Registrar or any important position in the Uni-versity. You are not allowed to register for part-time PhD in the University, for Example Dr MGR Medical University, Tamil Nadu.
We see the appointment of IAS/IPS officers and other professionals to lead Drug Control departments on one pretext or other in some states. Why can't a pharma man be posted when there is a need for replacement to lead drug control? Why is our efficiency and capacity suspected?
There are many problems like poor infrastructure, manpower prevailing in the Drugs Control department which needs to be set-right. Numerous posts, like that of Drug Inspectors are vacant in the country. We need more than 3,000 to 4,000 Drugs Inspectors for effective management of Drugs Control departments and also to eliminate manufacture sale and distribution of spurious, substandard, misbranded and adulterated drugs in the market in the best interest of the society and the country.
Conclusion
Let us try to strengthen ourselves and utilize our opportunities by working together for upliftment of our profession. We need to organise seminars / lectures, workshops with the help of industries and educational institutions to cover the following areas:
Pharmaceutical Sciences: To train our professionals on ways to design, develop and make rational use of medication to understand the career profile.
Drug discovery: To train in sales and marketing clinical trials and IT.
R&D: To train in R&D work of new molecule medicinal (chemistry) pharmacology, Toxicology/ analytical techniques to assess safety and efficacy.
Regulatory Affairs: To train the pharmacists to deal with the range of regulatory requirements of GMP, GLP, GDP, Storage, Stability etc.
Quality Assurance: To train to maintain highest standards in manu-facture and supply in prin-ciples of GMP and Commu-nity Pharmacy.
Hospital Practice: To train to be more responsible in complex healthcare system, institutional procurement, preparation, distribution and control of medicines.
Drug - Information: Offering training in drug information patient counseling and education.
Consulting and Advisory: To train them to understand the joint-venture, merger, commissioning, surveying, technology transfer and business direction and pharmaceutical management.
Educational Research: To help them to identify the universities / financial aid for higher education, for doctoral programmes, informing employment opportunities in community pharmacy, hospital association, industries and institutions and making them from trainee scientist to senior scientist & finally starting a news bulletin or journal for the above purposes.
An Appeal
There is always a brighter side if you take the above practice seriously and there will be job-satisfaction, high growth, high earnings and a tremendous scope to be recognized "as some are in the society". On the contrary, there could be downside too if you do not take such practice seriously and such personnel stagnate and struggle in their work. Therefore, I request all members of the pharmaceutical community to awaken and work together to put our profession in a fitting manner on the globe.
- The author is Asst. Drugs Controller, Airport, Chennai