The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is pushing a proposal to launch Ph.D programmes in the four of the new National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER)s and has prepared a Cabinet note for approval in this regard, it is learnt.

However, the experts in the field have expressed reservations on the proposal as the new NIPERs were still to have regular facilities and independent working systems. It is going to dilute the standards of the programme if the plan is approved now, they claim.

The DoP had already held some consultations last week with the experts and has prepared the Cabinet note to get the approval of the government and launch the programmes at the earliest. It has also sought the opinion of the NIPER at Mohali, which has the Ph.D programmes right now, to extend assistance on the course and conducting entrance examinations etc, according to the sources.

But some experts in the field have already conveyed to the Department that at this juncture it was bit too early to launch the Ph.D programmes as the new NIPERs did not have sufficient facilities on their own. The NIPERs are still running under the mentor institutes and still did not have enough permanent staff in the faculty as their own. Most of them are visiting faculties and the facilities like labs and other things were still owned by the mentor institutes in many places.

Besides, the new NIPERs were still to have independent status and did not enjoy enough functional freedom as the government had given sanction for only two years, though it may be renewed. The experts felt that the government should wait till it could give at least four years approval so that the programme could be finished. If the plan is being rushed through, it would be compromise on the quality and standards, besides the diluting the norms, it was pointed out.