In an effort to pursue its demands on amending the Pharmacy Act, 1948, by taking the latest changes in the sector into consideration, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) is envisaging a meeting with the Union Health Ministry, probably in the second week of April.

The council, which has been proposing an amendment to the age old Act for the last two to three years, will put forward a set of ideas afresh to the Union health minister. The proposal is to have a better look at the issues in criteria for registration with the PCI, pharmacy practice regulations and education, said Dr B Suresh, president, PCI.

“The proposals are prepared in such a way that there will be no need to revise the Act for the next two decades. If approved by the legislative, this will take care of whatever situation arise in near future,” informed Suresh. “We had meetings with the health minister in the last ministry. However, with the concerned ministry is run under a new minister, we would like to explain our proposals to him,” he added.

At present, the reorganisation of various states in the country has resulted in formation of separate tribunals to issue registration for pharmacy students passed out from the institutions in the respective provinces. Thus, there is confusion among the pharmacy professionals, institutions and students in these states since there would be two governing body – the PCI and the state tribunal – to decide on their particular issues. The new amendment is proposed to take care of such issues, by entitling the full authority on the sector to the council.

With this proposal, the Act can look after any issues coming up in case of reorganisation of states for the next 10 years, said Suresh. However, he added that the earlier claim to do away with the dual system of regulation over the pharmacy education will not be a major issue at present, as the central government is contemplating on a National Council for Human Resources in Health (NCHRH) as a regulatory body for health sector replacing the multiple regulatory bodies in medical and paramedical segments.

The PCI is planning to organise its central council meeting, in New Delhi, in the second week of April to take an account on the current issues in pharmacy sector. It will also discuss the future plans to push the proposals for Act amendment with the ministry, it is learnt.