Taking cue from Maharashtra and Karnataka, Gujarat State Pharmacy Council is all set to put in place a Drug Information Centre (DIC) for patient counseling and making clinicians aware of the latest knowledge on usage, dose and reactions of drugs.

Aimed at realising the potential of pharmacy practice for the public at large, the DIC would prove to be ready reckoner for the clinicians, pharmacists and doctors who today feel the need to understand more about medicines they dispense or prescribe.

Recently, officials from Gujarat State Pharmacy Council (GSPC) had visited Maharashtra State Pharmacy Council (MSPC) to adopt its system which is running there successfully for almost a decade. Informed Pradip Trivedi, president, GSPC, "We have appointed a project officer, pharmacologist and three supporting IT staff currently to start the DIC shortly. We are in the process of building the operational infrastructure to start it as soon as possible."

Experts advocate that drug information has a great importance in therapy as pharmacists are the best source of drug information. In order to make DICs more strong, the pharmacist should be equipped with either a Bachelor's Degree in Pharmacy or a Doctorate in Pharmacy to realise the full potential of DIC as is the practice in developed countries.

The need for DICs is more relevant in India as drug information helps minimise death due to adverse effect of drugs. Many patients die due to drug effects because in India there is no system in place to identify the reason of death. In developed countries, up to 30 per cent patient die due to drug side effects but the scenario is more grave in India.

According to latest reports, DICs are not effectively working in India except in few state councils like Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala which are also working at just 20 per cent of their capacity.

"In order to make DICs a reality in India, attitude towards pharmacists in India needs to be changed. Highly qualified pharmacists should be allowed to enter into community pharmacy with good remuneration package. This can be ensured if pharmacy as a profession is made patient centric rather than business oriented run by businessmen and unqualified people," Trivedi concluded.