The 65th edition of Indian Pharmaceutical Congress, an annual event of the pharmacy professionals in the country, concluded at Noida near Delhi  on December 22 after three days of intense deliberations and scientific sessions. Three key issues concerning the pharmacy profession came under serious debate during the Congress. The need for the presence of a registered pharmacist at the retail pharmacy stores was perhaps the most widely discussed issue. This is a matter directly linked to employment prospects of pharmacists in the country where thousands of pharmacy graduates and diploma holders come out every year. It is not that the topic had not come up for discussion in the earlier IPCs. But, no steps are still being taken by the concerned authorities in the states and at the Centre to enforce this rule despite the fact that it can greatly help the patient community also. It is found that the the main reason for this trend in the country is the lack of willingness of the state governments to enforce the rule. At the Congress, it was pointed out that only states like Maharashtra, Goa and Tamil Nadu had taken initiatives in implementing the rule and that too just a few months ago. What is surprising is the fact that even the government dispensaries and the district hospitals in the states also do not follow the rule.

Another major issue debated at the Congress was about the need to bring  the pharmacy education at all levels under a single regulatory authority. The pharmacists are of the unanimous view that all powers in this regard should be vested with Pharmacy Council of India and it should have complete authority and accountability to improvise the educational standards at all levels. Currently the existence of dual control in pharmacy education by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and PCI led to mushrooming of colleges, deteriorating quality of pharmacy education. This needs to be corrected and regularised especially when there is a specific body like PCI to regulate the pharmacy profession and education. AICTE can take care of other streams of technical education in the country. Proposal to amend Rules 71 (1) and 76 (1) under Drugs & Cosmetics Rules 1945 was yet another key agenda of the Congress. With this, pharmacists seek to ensure that candidates possessing B. Pharm shall only be considered for posts of technical staff in drug manufacturing and testing laboratories. It has been a practice for the pharmaceutical companies to hire science graduates as trainees for the technical jobs in the manufacturing plants and testing labs when large number of pharmacy graduates are available from the colleges. One of the main reasons for the growing unemployment amongst pharmacists in the country is this attitude of pharmaceutical companies. PCI and some of the professional bodies of pharmacists had represented this matter to the industry bodies and to the government in the past but no action has been taken as yet on this front.