Indian Pharma industry is growing at a rapid pace but the opportunities the pharmacy graduates get is not that impressive and institutes that offer B pharm courses rarely look at the need to offer placement services to the candidates, G Dharma Data, president, Indian Pharmacy Graduates Association-AP State branch told Pharmabiz.

The Drugs and Cosmetics Act (1945), Rules 71 (1) and 76 (1) say that manufacturing activity should be taken up under the supervision of a technical man whose qualifications should be either B pharm, B Sc, B Tech in Chemical Engineering or Medicine with biochemistry. He says that it is necessary today that pharmacy graduates be given priority over candidates with other qualifications. And if possible, he says, only pharmacy graduates should be absorbed for such positions.

He mentioned that though National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in 1998 has recommended appointment of a pharmacist in every district hospital to check the drugs usage and storage but no serious efforts have been made in this direction.

The district central stores in all the states of the country should be headed by qualified pharmacists, Dharma Data opined.

The drugs controllers of all the states should also be technical personnel with pharmacy background. State Government of West Bengal and Delhi are making progress in this direction. And other states should also realise that if the drugs departments were headed by people from the relevant background, controlling spurious drugs would become easier.

Dharma Data expressed that the newly formed AP state Branch of IPGA would also try to establish career counseling centres to guide pharmacy graduates to take up suitable and challenging careers, and it would be easy as the members of the association would be from pharma industry, academia and chemist community, who will be able to give a practical guidance.