With growing industry needs in the context of data integrity and GMP compliance in the complex regulatory environment globally and in India, the Kerala State Pharmacy Council (KSPC) is planning to start new continuing education programmes (CEPs) this year as mandated by Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) to upgrade the knowledge of pharmacists.
PCI has also increased the funding from Rs.14,000 per month to Rs.50,000 per month for CEPs as a step towards updating the knowledge of pharmacists in line with pharma industry needs.
Funding for CEPs is a part of PCI's quality assurance programme which envisages to devise new industry based curriculum and modules oriented towards educating pharmaciststs to bring them on par with the pharmacists working globally.This would involve people from the industry and regulatory bodies to become a part of the CEP programme and bring about uniformity in CEPs conducted across the country.
PCI is currently looking into the quality assurance aspect in pharmacy education taking into consideration the pharmacist's role in serving the industry and trade in a professional and ethical manner. PCI is also working on models to strengthen the educational programme for pharmacists in remote areas for which it is planning to make certain variations in the CEP. As a part of the Quality Assurance programme, there has been a need to strengthen CEP by customising it according to the needs of pharmacists in various parts of the country based on the regions and their requirements.
Clinical services provided by pharmacists are fairly new to India and there is also a shortage of clinical pharmacy trainers. Besides this, expansion of pharmacy education in India marks an uneven distribution of colleges across states with quality of education being variable.
Around 60,000 pharma students pass out every year from pharmacy colleges in India. There are one million pharmacists and over seven lakh chemists across the country. Therefore, there is a need to empower pharmacists across the country as facilitators in the process of pharmacy practice considering the huge requirement.