The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) is currently working on its Vision 2025, redefining a pharmacist's role in healthcare delivery . The vision envisages that a pharmacist will be recognised as an expert in medicines and shall be responsible from the development of new drugs and delivery systems to supporting appropriate treatment and management of diseases. It relies on quality assurance and advancement in pharmacy education to support producing a globally competent pharmacist workforce by collaborating with global leaders . It continues to support pharmacist welfare and recognition besides partnering with various initiatives of the Government of India in developing a 'Healthy India' ( Swasth Bharat ).
The vision and mission of the PCI is to continuously evolve pharmacy course curriculum towards meeting present and future societal needs so as to prepare a pharmacist workforce with required competencies. There is a focus on continuing education of in-service pharmacists and pharmacy faculty. The PCI comprehending that the above vision could be realised only by a competent workforce has initiated its efforts by bringing out required regulations that can support the advancement and directed growth of pharmacy education and profession. Introduction of new regulations has ensured that compliance to erstwhile guidelines and policies has now become mandatory by law. This will help in ensuring and uplifting the standards of pharmacy education and profession. Further it has also initiated advocacy efforts that has drawn the attention of all stakeholders nationally and internationally in appreciating the role that pharmacist workforce can play in the healthcare delivery of the country and elsewhere.
Pharmacy education and quality assurance
Pharmacy education in India is at crossroads with the increasing number of pharmacy institutions and decreasing number of students aspiring to take pharmacy as a career. One of the reasons for the same is an apparent perception of decreasing quality in pharmacy education.There is a steady and growing demand from all stakeholders, including governments, professional organisations, quality assurance bodies, providers of continuing education, and schools of pharmacy, who are looking towards Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) for guidance in developing systems and strategies to assure and improve quality in pharmacy education. Drawing inspiration from the initiative of the International Forum for Quality Assurance of Pharmacy Education which operates under the auspices of the Academic Section of the FIP and also the Global Framework for Quality Assurance of Pharmacy Education (QAPE) document published by it and also realising the need for quality assurance in pharmacy education, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), established the National Task Force for Quality Assurance in Pharmacy Education. The initiative is dedicated to three domains of action: quality assurance, academic and institutional capacity, and competency and vision for pharmacy education and profession.The objectives of the National task Force are :
• to promote excellence in education for the profession of pharmacy;
• to provide a national forum for exchange of information, collaboration and co-operation in the area of quality assurance with other organisations involved in the quality assurance of education in the country or abroad;
• to accredit and/or grade pharmacy educational institutions/ programs ;
• to provide guidelines for continuing education (CE) and continuing professional development (CPD).
The PCI envisages that by the year 2020 through the Quality Assurance in Pharmacy Education will help overcome weaknesses in the education system and help produce appropriately trained pharmacists with the competencies to meet not only the demands of the country , but also be a part of a globally competent health care workforce.
To realise the same and effectively regulate the pharmacy education and profession in India , the PCI has framed and implemented the following regulations:
• Education Regulations 1991 – providing for minimum standards for the two year Diploma in Pharmacy program (D.Pharm) for practicing as a pharmacist in community and hospital pharmacies.
• Pharm.D Regulations 2008 – providing for the minimum standards for conduct of six year Doctor Pharmacy program so as to produce pharmacists who will be able to practice pharmacy in clinical settings.
• Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) course Regulations 2014 – providing for minimum standards for the conduct of the said course in pharmacy institutions.
• Master of Pharmacy ( M.Pharm) course Regulations 2014 – providing for the minimum standards for the conduct of the said course in pharmacy institutions
• Pharmacy Practice regulations 2015 – providing for practice of profession of pharmacy in the country and the standards to be maintained.
• Minimum Qualification for Teachers in Pharmacy Institutions Regulations, 2014 – setting standards for pharmacy teachers particularly with regard to their qualification and experience for taking up career in academics
• Bachelor of Pharmacy (Practice) Regulations, 2014 – providing for pharmacists with Diploma in Pharmacy qualification, mentioned above, to upgrade their qualification, knowledge and competencies.
Many of these regulations, as may be seen, were framed only recently, with the objective of providing framework and tools for assuring quality in pharmacy education. Through these initiatives , PCI aims at supporting and nurturing the pharmacy profession in the country to improve the quality of pharmacy education, pharmacy services and ultimately, the delivery of care to patients. The PCI aims also to partner with other countries and organisations in its efforts to improve the knowledge and skills of the pharmacists and enhance and expand local resources where needed, thereby contributing to improved patient and population health care outcomes
Pharmacy practice
India's National Health Policy recognises the significant role played by the pharmacists, pharmaceutical industry, pharmacy professionals and the capability of the country in producing quality medicines at low cost and making it available not only to India but globally. As per the situation analysis contained in the National Health Policy for pharmacist workforce, the PCI ensures to produce sufficient number of skilled and competent pharmacist workforce . In fact each function is structured in several roles and for each role, a list of minimum national standards which has to be established have been set. Perhaps the pharmacy profession is the only profession in India which has trained the required number of professionals that are needed for the country and also continues to evolve the mechanism which suits the needs of the health professionals.
The Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 of the Pharmacy Council of India are statutory in nature and clearly define the philosophy, concepts and principles of foundation practice and the role of practicing pharmacists in health care delivery besides prescribing the discipline of foundation practice. It also provides for -
• motivating and helping the pharmacists to advance their knowledge and acquire / advance their qualification.
• defining statutory duties and responsibilities of pharmacists thus making them accountable to the profession.
• ensure good pharmacy practice.
• emphasise highest quality assurance in patient care.
Through these regulations, the council has tried to ensure that patient must not be neglected and has defined the obligations of the pharmacist to the sick. These regulations clearly define -
• code of pharmacy ethics.
• patience, delicacy and secrecy.
• prognosis.
• role of pharmacist for promotion of rational drug use.
• pharmacist’s conduct during counselling.
• unethical practice etc.
The requirement of continuing education has been included for the first time in the Pharmacy Practice Regulations, 2015 as a statutory requirement for renewal of registration under the Pharmacy Act.
The starting of the Pharm.D. programme and the availability of clinically trained pharmacists after six years of exhaustive study has a positive impact on more than 60,000 patients who visit on daily basis atleast more than 200 hospitals where the Pharm.D institutions have tied up and has resulted in the responsible use of medicines saving the cost to the patients and also the hospital management. This has also resulted in strengthening the pharmacovigilence programme of the Govt. of India and has generated data-base of adverse drug events being reported and helps in generating policies for the continuity of the medicines based on its safety profile.
The future
The Pharmacy Council of India thus, has been successful in re-engineering its vision and that of the profession in producing well trained competent pharmacists who not only meet the different needs of the country but also globally . The PCI has aggressively promoted the need of nurturing the scientific environment of the country in drug discovery and innovation and has recently come out with a national curriculum for the B.Pharm and M.Pharm Program for the very first time which is expected to spur new generation of pharmaceutical scientists who will be not only be trained to be current and relevant meeting the expectations of the Pharma Sector but also augur entrepreneurship and discovery and innovation culture.
The PCI is proposing to maintain a live register of pharmacists on its data base which will have an accurate number of pharmacists working in the country thereby giving the availability of the human resource in different sectors-urban, rural, metropolis, private sector, govt. sector etc.
With the quality assurance in pharmacy education serving as an important tool to evolve towards global standards and expectations, the dream of the Indian pharmacist to be recognised as an expert in medicines, responsible from development of new drugs and delivery systems to supporting appropriate treatment and management of diseases is not far away.
(The author is President, Pharmacy Council of India, New Delhi and Vice Chancellor, JSS University, Mysore)