The liberalized student intake policy introduced by the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) in last year, has put many pharmacy colleges of Kerala in serious trouble. A good number of was forced to discontinue the post graduate pharmacy courses from  next academic year.

Directors of eight pharmacy colleges which were given approval by AICTE and Pharmacy Council of India to conduct M Pharmacy courses, have written to the state government that they do not intent to admit students in the management quota by accepting capitation fee provided the government allot sufficient number of students to fill up the quota from the merit list prepared by the admission committee.

AICTE, in last year increased the number of student intake in the pharmacy colleges across the country. For M Pharm, the number was increased from eight to 18 students and for B Pharm, to 120 from 60. This hike has badly hit  the private pharmacy colleges all over the country, especially in Kerala where very few students are doing PG in Pharmacy, it is learnt.

According to sources from the Directorate of Medical Education, all the private pharmacy colleges in Kerala, except Amrutha School of Pharmacy, have forwarded their intention to the government seeking students from the merit list in addition to the government quota to fill up the 50 per cent seats allotted for management. Dr V Geetha, the Director of Medical Education said the colleges have agreed that they would submit an affidavit confirming no collection of additional fee than the rate fixed by government for the management quota admissions.

“Certain colleges have written to us saying that they are ready to give admissions in the management quota for students allotted from government list on fees fixed by government. This means that they do not intent to collect capitation fee. The government has fixed a rate for the private colleges to collect fees for those allotted from the merit list. Generally, for the 50 per cent management quota seats, the college managements can collect the fees fixed by them. Now, since the colleges are facing shortage of students, the managements have come down to admit students on fees fixed by the government”, “said Dr V Geetha. She said the government has prepared a merit list after conducting an entrance examination.

However, the director added that even if government allotted sufficient number of students from the merit list, it was the discretion of the students to opt for the colleges where they wanted to study. To another query, the director said government is seriously thinking of starting Pharm D course in the government run pharmacy colleges in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode.

When contacted Dr R Saraswathi, the principal of Al Shifa College of Pharmacy, Perinthalmanna, said the AICTE’s decision to hike the student intake has adversely affected the pharmacy colleges which have been struggling because of poor availability of students for PG Courses. She suggested that students who wanted to do PG Courses must opt for colleges in Kerala rather than go outside the state.

Prof M A Kuriachan, the principal of government pharmacy college, Thiruvananthapuram is of the opinion that the long gap in starting the M Pharm courses in Kerala after the degree results come out, forces the students to go to other states for their PG Courses. Further, the poor infrastructure facilities in the private colleges and insufficient staff especially lack of qualified and experienced teachers, are the reasons for students opting established pharmacy colleges in other states. Prof Kuriachan is one of the members of the admission committee appointed by the government.

Prof R Raju, principal of National College of Pharmacy, Kozhikode, said all the private colleges in Kerala are running short of students for PG Courses. According to him, poor job opportunities for pharmacy post graduates is also one of the reasons for students to withdraw from joining the courses. He expressed concern that though the private colleges have written to government for acceptance of students without capitation fee, it was uncertain whether students would opt for these colleges to do the master level course.

Dr KG Revikumar, the principal of Amrutha School of Pharmacy, Eranakulam, said his college faces no difficulty in getting sufficient students for each course. The college conducts courses from D Pharm to Pharm D.

Apart from the two government colleges, two self financing colleges under Mahatma Gandhi University in Kottayam are also conducting M Pharm courses.

The private colleges approved by AICTE and PCI to conduct the PG Courses are Al-Shifa College of Pharmacy, Malappuram, Nehru college of Pharmacy, Thrissur, Devaki Amma Memorial College, Malappuram, National College of Pharmacy, Kozhikode, Grace college of Pharmacy, Palakkadu, Malik Deenar College of Pharmacy, Kasaragode, Crescent College of Pharmacy, Kannur and Academy of Medical Sciences, Pariyaram, Kannur.

All these colleges are coming under the newly established Kerala Health University.