An amount of Rs.824 crore allocated by the Central government to introduce Pharm D course in government medical colleges may soon lapse as most of the government colleges are yet to start this advanced pharmacy degree course.

The Pharmacy Council of India(PCI) has given approval to several pharmacy colleges attached to government medical colleges in various parts of the country, but the principals of the institutions are not taking any follow up action to commence the course.

The government pharmacy college attached to the medical college at Thiruvananthapuram in Kerala got approval from PCI in 2011 for Pharm D, but no step was taken to start the course. Likewise, the pharmacy college at Kozhikodu Medical College was also given approval, but no follow up action was carried out here also. There is allegation that this lackadaisical attitude of the government institutions is helping the private colleges to violate all norms of admission process and fix capitation fee for all the courses.

According to Pharmacy Council of India, though there are 160 approved institutions in the country are running Pharm D programme, only four institutions in the government are conducting Pharm D. They are government colleges of pharmaceutical sciences in Amravati and in Aurangabad in Maharashtra, Annamalai University in Tamil Nadu and college of pharmaceutical sciences in Andhra University in Vishakhapatnam. The number of private pharmacy colleges and deemed universities running Pharm D comes around 157.

The Pharmacy Council of India started the integrated six year pharmacy course in 2008, soon after it, the private institutions began to commence the course fixing course fees and capitation fees at their own whims and fancies. Certain state governments are showing interest, but the principals are the bottlenecks, said Prof Dr K Chinnaswami, president of Tamil Nadu Pharmacy Council. The Pharmacy Council of India is encouraging the programme by providing financial support also, he added.

According to Dr S Satheesh Kumar, professor and head of department of pharmaceutics, Vels University, Chennai, currently the pharmaceutical education in the country is experiencing a transformation and the reason he cited is the segregation of clinical pharmacist from industrial pharmacist by the introduction of Pharm D programme. On completion of the course, plenty of job opportunities are awaiting the Pharm D graduates. If government colleges are not starting the course, the poor students in the country are the suffering lot because they cannot afford the huge fees.

“If the course is not started in government sector, the private colleges will manipulate the admission process defying all norms. They are asking for money towards capitation fee ranging from Rs.8 lakh to Rs.10 lakh in addition to the annual fee of Rs.2 lakh for the first year for a Pharm D admission. A student will have to spend more than Rs.30 lakh towards fees alone on completion of his/her course. Other expenses are separate”, said a parent of a student seeking admission for Pharm D.