After playing a pivotal role in guiding the Union health ministry to introduce the advanced Pharm.D course in the country, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) is focusing now on the Amendment in Pharmacy Act, 1948 which is proposed to do away with present system of dual powers in regulating pharma education in the country.

According to PCI chairman Dr B Suresh, the PCI is working hard to ensure that the bill to amend the Pharmacy Act is tabled in the forthcoming monsoon session of Parliament, which is expected to begin in the middle of August. "We have already achieved one milestone by getting permission for Pharm.D course and our next target is amendment in Pharmacy Act", Dr Suresh said. He added that the PCI is in constant touch with the concerned officials and ministers in Delhi in this connection.

He said the pharma education is facing a lot of problems in the country due to the present dual powers. At present the pharmacy education in the country is regulated by both the AICTE and the PCI. This dual regulation of pharmacy education has really thrown up several avoidable issues in its wake, especially during the last some years as there has been a paradigm shift in the definition and scope of pharmacy education in the country.

The clamour for amendment to the Pharmacy Act reached its crescendo during the last some years as there is a growing feeling among the pharma education experts in the country that the responsibilities and demands of the pharmacists have, over the years, become more complex and demanding. There is an urgent need for a comprehensive professional authority of its own to look after their affairs and standards in education.

The proposed amendment seeks to end the decades-old dual regulation in the pharma education in the country and to strengthen the arms of PCI to streamline and improve the standards of pharmacy education in the country. The proposed amendment also talks about a total overhaul of PCI to give it more teeth as a regulator of pharmacy profession in the country. Stressing the need for a proper definition of pharmacy profession, the PCI has drafted a comprehensive definition for 'pharmacy profession' to enhance its acceptance and recognition in the society and also prescribes a code of conduct for pharmacists.

But, there are several inter-ministerial hurdles before the amendment goes to Parliament for its final seal. The main tussle is going to be between the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry and the Health Ministry. While the HRD Ministry is in favour retaining the regulatory powers with its arm All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), the Health Ministry is learnt to be pushing for transferring the regulatory powers of pharmacy education from AICTE to PCI which is a statutory body exclusively constituted for the pharmacy education in the country.