Present Scenario
Several developed and developing countries have given due importance and recognition to practice of pharmacy as community pharmacy, clinical pharmacy and hospital pharmacy as a major component in providing total healthcare to the society. Situation in India is rather disappointing where there is a very marginal development of community and other pharmacy services despite the phenomenal growth in industry and education. The first step to redeem the situation is to mould the education appropriate to the task. One ought to take a cue from JSS College of Mysore and Ooty, which successfully conduct the courses in community pharmacy in collaboration with Australian Universities. The other redeeming feature is emergence of retail medical chain stores on professional lines. The contribution of community pharmacy division of PIA is also becoming a force to reckon with. These islands of excellence have to be expanded and evolved further by our fellow professionals before we can claim our missing professional status into government and society at large.
Advent of Biotechnology
Community pharmacist has four principal areas of activity - dispensing of prescribed medicines, maintaining a drug profile of the patients, providing information about drugs and their usage and last but not the least, clinical aspects viz. Monitoring the therapy, looking for any adverse reactions, providing necessary care etc. In most cases, the pharmacist in India is content with the first job and is therefore perceived by the society as mere trader and not health care ser-vice provider.
Time has come for a reality check within our profession. Biotechnology sector will contribute to health care products by about 40 per cent in coming years. Biotechnology has made transition from academic laboratories to corporate board rooms and after the IT revolution in the nineties, biotechnology has been projected as the next big wave for business in the new millennium. The readout of human genome will lead to a new paradigm in health care. Newer sciences like proteomics, genomics and bioinformatics are providing a lead role in drug discovery.
Several biotech based products like insulin, human growth hormones, G-CSF, GM-CSF, erythropoetin, blood factors VIII and IX and urokinase are in the pipelines. Besides, there is a possibility of producing truly novel proteins like enzymes based on recombinant DNA technique. Mammalian cell culture techniques will lead to production of monoclonal antibodies & interferon). The uses of all these specialized products call for special storage requirement within and outside pharmacy like cold chain, special counseling while dispensing, administration and follow up.
The pharmacists must not take it for granted that they alone will handle the future pharmacies unless they are willing to adapt to New World and learn to master the combination of digital and biotech language. This is besides filling up the void on professional front even as of now.
This is a great challenge and great opportunity facing the above 5 lacs registered pharmacists in the country and several prospective pharmacists of tomorrows. Let us awaken to this truth and attain the goal of good phar-macy services in the changing times of new millennium.
-- The author is Apostle Remedies, Vadodara (Secretary, IPA, Vadodara)