The Education Regulation 2001 (ER 2001) draft of the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), which is pending with the ministry for the last two years is likely to see the light during the current year. The PCI, the strongest votary of the reforms that are part of ER 2001 has formally requested the Central government to consider it in the forthcoming session of the Parliament, Prof C K Kokate, president, PCI has informed.

The revised draft of ER 2001, which is to be introduced in the Parliament calls for the scrapping of diploma courses in pharmacy and make degree the minimum qualification in a phased manner. The draft had to be revised several times during the last two years due to the protest from amongst the non-graduate, pharmacy professionals. The drug trade sector, which absorbs majority of Diploma holders in Pharmacy is known to be wary of the PCI plans to make degree the minimum qualification of a practicing pharmacist. The lobbying power of various pressure groups has seen the bill being blocked before getting into the Parliament.

The ER 2001 is considered to be a progressive step taken by PCI as it aims at bringing in international standards in pharmacy practice in India. The Bill has given much needed thrust to the promotion of the concept of hospital and community pharmacy.

It is known that the new syllabus that would be introduced to the pharmacy students after the clearance of ER 2001, will give 50 percent weightage to the study of hospital pharmacy, which is a significant shift from the earlier trend of training the students for the pharma industry.

According to Prof Kokate president PCI, the industry related topics would continue to be among 40 percent of the remaining syllabus while the rest would deal with the basics. He felt that the shift in focus is the need of the hour if the pharmacy profession is to be recognised by the masses.