The All India Organisation for Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has decided to start a community pharmacy course for pharmacists, mainly for the retail pharmacists, all over the country from April 2007.

The Organisation, with a blueprint of the project in hand, is ready to start the course, with Rs 10 lakh fund. The move is mainly to equip the retail pharmacists in AIOCD's proposed company for better service provisions in its retail outlets, according to J S Shinde, general secretary, AIOCD.

"The education programme is to facilitate our members to provide better services to the customers. It is for the first time an association steps into this kind of educational programme," Shinde told Pharmabiz. He said that the programme would mainly cater to the pharmacists who are joining the Organisation's retail chain company, though there will be room for every pharmacists in this course initiative. Plans are to provide training for 25,000 retail pharmacists within two years.

The Maharashtra State Chemists and Druggists Association (MSCDA) has already commenced the community pharmacy course by February 2007 and the first batch of 30 pharmacists completed the one month course. The Maharashtra State Chemists and Distributors Alliance Pvt Ltd (MSCDA Ltd), the state level company, will moot the idea with 12 pharmacy colleges in Mumbai and neighbouring area to commence the course wide over the state. With this, the Association aims to provide training to 90 students per month from the state.

MSCDA has invested Rs 1.25 lakh to train the first batch, and the investment will vary according to the institution and the batch. Though the first three batches will be free of cost, the local body is planning to charge a minimum fee for the course later, explained Shinde, who is also the president of MSCDA.

The investment for training under each state body should be arranged by the respective states, to appoint the teaching faculties and to facilitate audio, video information capsules and reference books, while the national body will provide the basic design of the course. Like MSCDA, the state associations have to conduct discussion with the colleges in their locality to finalise the terms of package.

The course will cover all sorts of technical training sectors including drug interaction, merits and demerits of each drugs, root administration of medicines, Human Relations and business administration. With this, the AIOCD Ltd will ensure that its retail shops would guide the customers on disease conditions, drug information and healthcare tips as the part of competing with other organised retail chain companies, he added.