Al Shifa College of Pharmacy at Perinthalmanna in Malappuram district in Kerala is organizing a national seminar on “The effective intervention of pharmacovigilance in the Indian scenario” on July 29 at the college campus.

According to sources from the college, Dr K Mohandas, vice chancellor of Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS) will be the chief guest for inaugural function.

Dr M Surulivel Rajan from Manipal college of pharmaceutical sciences and Dr S Sriram from Sri Ramakrishna College of Pharmacy will be delivering lectures on pharmacovigilance. Dr Ipe Varghese, registrar, KUHS will be the chief guest for the valedictory function.

Speaking to Pharmabiz, the director of the college, Dr R Saraswathy said that many new drugs are being introduced in our country. Therefore, there is a need for a vibrant pharmacovigilance system in the country to protect the population from the potential harm that may be caused by some of these new drugs. Our country has more than half a million qualified doctors and 15000 hospitals with bed strength of 624000. It is the fourth largest producer of pharmaceuticals in the world and is emerging as an important clinical trial hub of the world.

According to her, there are considerable social and economic consequences of adverse drug reactions and the positive benefit/cost ratio of implementing appropriate risk management. So, there is a need to engage health care professionals and the public at large, in a well structured programme to build synergies for monitoring adverse drug reactions.

She said the specific aims of this conference are to make awareness about the academic contribution to the regulatory assessment of benefit, harm, effectiveness and risk of medicines. Further, it is aimed at improving patient care and safety in relation to use of medicines and all medical and paramedical interventions and also to improve public health and safety in relation to use of medicines, and promote understanding, education and clinical training in pharmacovigilance.