A large number of pharmacy colleges in the country are learnt to be running without proper faculty, thanks largely to the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)'s lackadaisical attitude in carrying out follow-up inspections after according permission to begin the colleges.

Sources said that while the AICTE has been on a permission giving spree to the pharmacy colleges in the country, it is not conducting the mandatory follow-up inspections to ensure that these colleges are run by a proper professional team. During the last two years, the AICTE has given permission to around 500 pharmacy colleges in the country. In the last one year, it has given permission to 120 colleges in Andhra Pradesh alone. There are more than 800 pharmacy colleges in the country.

A pharma education expert, who does not want to be named, said that while there are around 800 pharmacy colleges in the country, the number of qualified persons to hold the Principal's post in the country will not be more than 300. As per AICTE regulatory norms, the qualification for the Principal of the pharmacy colleges should be Ph.D in pharmacy with 10 years experience after M Pharm.

One of the main reasons for the development of this situation is the dual powers for regulating the pharma education in the country. Presently, the pharmacy education is regulated by both the AICTE and the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), a statutory body exclusively constituted for the pharmacy education in the country. This dual regulation of pharmacy education has really thrown up several avoidable issues in its wake, especially during the last some years as there has been a paradigm shift in the definition and scope of pharmacy education in the country.

While the PCI has D Pharm registration and related powers, all other statutory powers are vested with the AICTE on the same pattern of Dental Council of India, Nursing Council of India and Medical Council of India. As per norms, the permission to the colleges is given by the AICTE after verifying that the colleges have the required infrastructure.

Sources said that though the AICTE has all the powers, it is handicapped by severe shortage of staff. It has only limited staff and that too are either on contract or on deputation. Once the permission to start a college is given, there is no monitoring by it. While other bodies like Dental Council, Nursing Council and Medical Council act promptly on complaints of violation of norms, AICTE is mostly found wanting in investigating complaints of violation of norms by pharmacy colleges due to acute shortage of manpower.

Exploiting the situation, the pharma colleges hoodwink the AICTE by arranging to parade the required staff on the day of site inspection by the AICTE team. As there is no follow-up action, all these arrangements come to an end after the site inspection, sources said.