The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) had organized the “National Symposium on Medicine Information” on August 9, 2003. The symposium was organized to mark the completion of one year of the department of Pharmacy Practice at NIPER.
This one-day program had over 60 participants from various sections of the pharmacy profession, including hospital pharmacists, community pharmacists, clinicians, educators and students of pharmacy practice.
Prof. Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, President, Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD), inaugurated the symposium and Dr. S.K.Sharma, Director of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) at Chandigarh, presided over the opening session of the symposium.
The Director of the institute, Dr. C. L. Kaul, in his welcome address said, “Drug information is an essential element in achieving national health goals and ideally should be a part of comprehensive national drug policies and plans”
He pointed out that because of the plethora of formulations available in the market and the exponential increase in medicine literature, there is a need for a centralized service that could provide latest and unbiased information on medicines and promote their rational use.
“Further this center would help to update information on pharmacological and therapeutic literature and to disseminate relevant information as it becomes available. Such a facility has to operate in close coordination with the health care delivery system. It is in this context we have started this facility at NIPER so that the national health goals are achieved,” said Dr. Kaul.
Dr. S. K. Sharma, Director-PGIMER, in his presidential remarks appreciated the achievements of the Pharmacy Practice Department in its first one year. Prof. Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, in the keynote address, presented an overview of medicine information in South East Asia. He underlined that the levels of information available with the patients or information centres is far from satisfactory.
The scientific program included discussions by three invited speakers, two of whom were practicing pharmacists at Guys and St. Thomas Hospital in London, UK. In the first session, Satpal Soor, Medicine Information Pharmacist from UK, presented an overview of a Medicine Information facility in UK; and also appreciated the efforts made by NIPER in developing this much neglected area into the pharmacy profession. It may be recalled that a Medicine Information Centre has been established at the Department of Pharmacy Practice under the aegis of "Higher Education Link Scheme" supported by DFID and managed by the British Council.
The symposium was co-coordinated by the department of Pharmacy Practice, which has completed one year at NIPER. The symposium ended with an open discussion followed by the distribution of certificates to the participants by Dr. P. R. Pabrai, Ex-Director of the Central Indian Pharmacopoeial Laboratory. Dr. Pramil Tiwari, Associate Professor in Pharmacy Practice and Symposium Coordinator, thanked the participants for their enthusiasm.