The Karnataka government has allotted 4.31 acres of land in Gulbarga for the construction of the second government pharmacy college in the state. The construction and commissioning of the pharmacy educational institute will take around 18-24 months.

Currently, the Karnataka Health System Development & Reform Project (KHSDRP) is to submit its estimate on the building construction costs. The total cost of the second Government College of Pharmacy would be Rs.26 crore for the building and the government will disburse the funds at every stage as the construction progresses, Raghurama Bhandary, Karnataka drugs controller, told Pharmabiz.

The commissioning of this institution will give a big fillip to the pharmacy education in the state, he added.

The state has a total of 96 pharmacy colleges, of which 70 offer D. Pharm, 70 B. Pharm and 60 M. Pharm. However there is only Government Pharmacy College at Bengaluru which is a 51-year old institution.

Going by the expansion of the pharma industry and pharmacy trade, there is a need for more qualified candidates and the second Government Pharmacy College would encourage students from the district to also look at for pharmacy over specialisations like medicine and engineering.

The first GCP was commissioned in 1964 started off by offering D. Pharm. Upto 2012-13, 3,000 students of D. Pharm, 2,500 in B. Pharm and 1,000 M. Pharm candidates passed out. The annual student intake for D. Pharm is 60, B. Pharm is 50 and M. Pharm is 20. The fee structure too is the lowest compared to the private colleges.

With the lack of trained teachers in the pharmacy colleges impacting the quality of pharmacy education, the state drugs control department which is also in charge of the Government Pharmacy College, had proposed to the state government to clear 158 teaching and non teaching staff posts for the second GCP at Gulbarga. Now the state government has put forth the proposal to Centre and the clearance is awaited from the Union Cabinet, he said.

During the state budget 2014-15, the government had set aside Rs.6,023 crore towards the departments of Health, Family Welfare and Medical Education. Out of this, the state drugs control department received Rs.40.27 crore.

Gulbarga is a district in the northern part of the state and the government has been looking to improve the educational infrastructure among other amenities. In June this year, the state government announced establishment of six new medical colleges which included Gulbarga along with the newly formed districts of Koppal, Chamarajanagar, Karwar, Madikeri and Gadag with an intake of 150 each.