The situation of the pharmacy colleges in Tamil Nadu is hugely improving and more colleges may come up in the next academic year. No college in the state is facing any crisis with regard to admission or faculty problem or infrastructure facilities, according to information received from the association of private pharmacy colleges in the state.

The office of the secretary of the private professional colleges association to which the pharmacy colleges association is affiliated, informed Pharmabiz that unlike other states, Tamil Nadu is providing good and quality education in pharmacy, dentistry, nursing and medicine. So, all the 39 pharmacy colleges in the state are getting sufficient number of students and the colleges are running the courses in a full-fledged manner.

A veteran pharmacy teacher and guide, Dr V Ravichandran, director of the School of Pharmacy at Vels University in Chennai said there is no unemployed pharmacy graduate anywhere in Tamil Nadu as the colleges are producing pharmacy graduates as per the requirement of the state. There are job opportunities for B Pharm and M Pharm graduates in clinical research organizations, manufacturing companies, and in the areas of pharmacovigilance and haemovigilance programmes. The graduates of the speciality oriented course, Pharm D, will be appointed in multi speciality hospitals with special responsibility on drugs as the drugs and cosmetics act demands the role of specialist pharmacists to monitor the action and reactions of medicines.

He said only one college in Kancheepuram district was closed down in all these years and it was because of internal feud in the management.

“In the last five years only five new colleges were started in the state, whereas in Andhra Pradesh around three hundred colleges have come up during this period. It is more than the requirement of the state and it is because of that many unemployed pharmacy graduates are looking for jobs there. The regulatory bodies should not give approvals for starting colleges without assessing actual requirements. Here, in Tamil Nadu there is scope for a few more colleges. In the last twenty years we have produced graduates as per true demand”, said Dr Ravichandran, who is also the vice president of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association.

While commenting on the private universities conducting the pharmacy courses, he said all the five deemed universities conducting pharmacy education and awarding certificates are affiliated to Dr MGR Medical University. Sri Ramachandra University, Chennai, Vels University, Chennai, SRM University, Chennai, Vinayaga Mission University, Salem and JSS University, Ootty are controlling the 39 pharmacy colleges in the state. Dr Ravichandran is a former syndicate member of Dr MGR Medical University.