Pharma Training Institute, part of the Karnataka Pharmaceutical Trust which completed its first batch of industry oriented course will put in all its efforts to support sector with continuous supply of trained manpower, according to Suresh Khanna, its chairman.

The course modules are devised keeping in mind the current needs of the industry. This has been possible only because the close industry interaction with the academics to assess the shortfall of current education system. With the constant industry support in terms of devising syllabus and its experts chipping in to conduct classes, candidates passing out of PTI are industry-ready personnel, he said at the formal inauguration of the Institute and the certificate presentation event.

Emphasizing the need for constant industry-academic interaction, Jayaprakash Mady, Trustee, KPT and managing director, Wintac said pharma industry activities evolve around five Ps which are people, policy, processes, patents and products. Work force training is increasingly recognized as a critical component in a knowledge-based economy. Pharma industry’s competition and regulatory requirements need adaptable competence. This is where PTI’s employable skill orientation for industry entrants will come give candidates an edge.

“The gap between industry and academic needs to be bridged because it is the only way to get the best out of the pharmacy graduates and post graduates. Just like Good Manufacturing Practices and Good Labs Practices, we need Good Educational Practices that focus on quality of people and processes,” said Dr BR Jagashetty, Karnataka drugs controller and Trustee, Karnataka Pharma Trust.

In his address as the chief guest of the event, Dr B Suresh, president of Pharmacy Council of India said that there are around 60,000 pharmacy graduates and over 10,000 M Pharm candidates passing out of 800 colleges in the country. Major part of these qualified candidates are under skilled. Untrained workforce is the biggest deterrent to the growth of the knowledge sector. Since updating of curriculum in pharmacy education is a major challenge, this is where PTI can bring in partnerships between the industry and academic to address the needs of specific skill requirements of the former. While there are efforts to train candidates in the entire gamut of services covering the pharma sector, PTI should also look at entrepreneurial development. The Union government has fund options from the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Department of Biotechnology for various initiatives for start-up companies, he said.