Although India has good quality drugs, it has to refine the methods of drug discovery for the benefit of the society as the country is encountering a shortage of good drugs for chronic diseases and viral diseases. More researches have to be done in these areas, said V K Subburaju, commissioner & principal secretary of Health & Family Welfare, Government of Tamil Nadu.

He was delivering a speech on the theme 'Make pharmacy your career' after inaugurating the 48th National Pharmacy Week Celebration in Chennai. The principal secretary has appreciated the initiatives taken by IPA TN Chapter and Pharmaceutical Welfare Trust in promoting Pharmacy education and pharmacy profession in the state.

He said, “In quality aspects, Indian drugs are good, but more emphasis has to be given in quality concentration. Likewise, we have to have more infrastructure, better laboratories and efficient and qualified analysts.”

Subburaju said after India’s independence, one of the great achievements the country could win is the self-sufficiency in drugs, like that of food grains. But the modern pharmacists should understand the scope and potential of the growing pharmaceutical industry. He exhorted the drug inspectors and other pharmacists presented in the seminar to educate the younger generation about the scope of pharma sector and the job opportunities therein.

While highlighting the scope of career opportunities, he said in the country more than five lakh chemists & druggists are working, out of which 40,000 are in Tamil Nadu. In India, 20,000 registered pharma manufacturing units are functioning. Among them, 250 units are big ones and 8000 units are small ones. These units can provide immense job opportunities for pharmacy graduates.

The secretary said the country must refine the treatment procedures also as it has a large requirement of drugs, and the drug growth rate in the country is 12 per cent. For increasing the growth further, we need to have more teaching centres, professionals and researchers. He asked the researchers and pharmacists to make use of the age old literature containing medical information for the development of novel drugs and good methods of treatments. Now India is on par with the developing nations in the case of clinical research. However, we have to concentrate on that, Subburaju said.

R Narayanasamy, president IPA, Tamil Nadu chapter, J Jayaseelan, secretary, Dr K Chinnasamy, Tamil Nadu Pharmacy Council president, M Bhaskaran, director of Drug Control department and N Sreenivasan, secretary of the Pharmaceutical Sciences Welfare Trust spoke on the occasion.