Access to pharmacy education to the aspiring students in Bihar, a state with more than 11 crore population, is merely a few per cent as the state has only two pharmacy colleges and one department of pharmacy in a technology institute, thanks to the apathy of the state government in allowing more institutions for pharmacy.

Students from Bihar, the third-largest state of the country, are depending on institutions in West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh for doing diploma and degree courses in pharmacy. A certain per cent of them seeks admissions in south India also.

According to information from reliable sources, with only five thousand plus registered pharmacists who have renewed their certificates with the state pharmacy council, the field of community pharmacy that comprises 65,000 medical stores has turned a playground for unqualified dispensers. Ninety per cent of the medical stores in Bihar are lacking qualified pharmacists.

Although several educational managements show interest in starting pharmacy colleges the major hurdle that prevents them from going ahead is nothing but the unconcern of the state government. The government is not giving NoCs for the educational institutions to introduce pharmacy courses or start new pharmacy colleges. “In spite of all attempts from institutional managements to open pharmacy colleges, the government is not giving permission,” sources from the educational sector in Bihar informed Pharmabiz.

Responding to Pharmabiz over the issue, a pharma industry person who is close to IPA Bihar, said the association is making all attempts to start two colleges in two districts. They have given representations to the state government, PCI and also to the AICTE for permission and approval of courses. Along with increasing pharmacy institutions, the association has also wanted the government to instruct all pharmacy owners to appoint pharmacists and give them salaries should through their bank accounts.

Currently the major source of pharmacy education in Bihar is through two institutions, Government Pharmacy Institute in Patna (GPIP) and Bihar College of Pharmacy (BCP) in Patna. The Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology (MIT) has one special department for pharmacy which conducts bachelor degree course (B Pharm) with an intake of 15 students every year. Sources said, MIT is likely to close down the department from next academic year due to lack of support from the government.

According to a senior academician from Patna, to keep pace with the growing demand of qualified pharmacists in Bihar, the state should have a minimum of one pharmacy college, either in the private sector or in the government sector, in each district.

Dr. R N Gupta, a pharmacy academic expert from Ranchi in Jharkhand said all the north Indian states require qualified pharmacists, mainly in the state of Bihar, to safeguard the health of the people. The Union government and the State government should take steps to engage qualified pharmacists in all the hospital and community pharmacies for better healthcare of the people. He further said the situation of hospital pharmacies in Bihar is pathetic as most of them lack pharmacists.