In the wake of the call given by the Union Ayush Ministry to train the Ayush industry staff through appropriate training programs, the industry players in Tamil Nadu have associated with Anna University in Chennai to train their technical persons at the training & research centre of the university through an industry specific course.

The AU-KBC Research Centre of the university (K B Chandrasekhar Research Centre) will offer an exclusive PG Certificate Course in ‘Technology & Management for Ayush Pharmaceutical Industry’ from July 19 this year at the University's MIT Chromepet Campus.

The last date for submitting application is July 7 and the fee for the six months course is Rs. 50,000.

A Bachelor in Pharmacy or life-sciences can join the certificate course. Priority will be given for graduates in ayurveda, siddha and unani streams, said Dr. M.S Ramaswamy, programme co-coordinator at the training centre.

Tamil Nadu Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani Drugs Manufacturers Association (TASUDMA) and the Centre for Traditional Medicines and Research (CTMR) Chennai will provide technical support to the course both at the training centre and at industry units. These associations will support the training programme as joint organisers also. After five months of theoretical study at the university centre, the participants will be taken to production units of various ayush industrial units for hands-on training, said Vijay Mehta, president of TSUDMA.

“The course is of 6 months duration. There will be five modules of duration of one month each (600 contact hours in all), followed by one month (150 contact hours) of industrial internship. While the P G Certificate would be awarded only on completion of all the 6 months, candidates are also free to take any of the five individual modules alone for which an appropriate certificate would be issued”, he said.

Regarding the training course, Dr. T. Thirunarayanan, secretary of CTMR said as per the Drugs & Cosmetics Act every GMP certified manufacturing unit must have a minimum of two doctors, one at the manufacturing unit and another one at the quality control (QC) section. Generally all the graduates in Ayush streams are trained to work as clinicians. But technical skill is also needed to supervise the production of drugs. So the medical graduates will be trained in the management and technological aspects of the Ayush industry.

Regulations of Ayush systems, GMP aspects, drugs and cosmetics act and various components of production are included in the curriculum of the certificate course. The course is entirely industry-specific. Trainers from CTMR will associate with the university as guest faculties for the course, said Dr Thirunarayanan.