The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) will soon take strict action, including cancellation of admission process, against the pharmacy colleges which have been found flouting rules and regulations and are running without proper faculty. In the surprise inspections on pharmacy colleges which the PCI had started last year to pin down the institutions that are running without proper faculty, the PCI has found several pharmacy colleges violating rules to run their institutions.

PCI across the country has found deficiencies in several colleges, most of which are related to faculty. The issue has been referred to the PCI's legal department for vetting and once the legal department clears the files, the PCI will initiate strict action, including suspension of admission process, against such institutions, PCI chairman Dr B Suresh said.

In its efforts to identify and clamp down on the pharmacy colleges which have been hoodwinking the authorities by reportedly running without proper faculties, the PCI had last year started surprise inspections on the pharmacy colleges to verify the real picture in this regard. The PCI completed the campaign recently and will act on the results soon.

Earlier, there were reports that several pharmacy colleges in the country are running without proper faculties. The modus operandi of the colleges is that at the time of inspections by the AICTE team before giving permission to start the colleges, these institutions will hoodwink the team by arranging to parade the required staff on the day of site inspection. But, once the site inspection is over, this arrangement will come to an end as there is hardly any follow-up inspections by the AICTE, mainly due to lack of staff.

Such malpractices by educational institutions will have a telling effect on the quality of pharmacy education in the country. PCI is concerned over the issue as it will work against the PCI's efforts to improve the quality of pharmacy education in the country. It was due to the relentless efforts of PCI that the central government has given permission to start Pharm D course in the country last year which will bring the pharmacists in the country at par with the international standards, Dr Suresh said.