Following the guidelines of the All India Organisation of Chemists & Druggists (AIOCD), the Federation of Drug Traders of Andhra Pradesh (FEDTAP) will soon commence patient counselling course for the working pharmacists in the state.

Pharmacists working in the retail shops, whole sale depots and those in the private hospital pharmacies will be admitted into the 12-month long course, but classes will be only on a single day in a month. The first batch of the program, comprising 50 member pharmacists of the association, will begin  from August first week, said B Venkat Raju, president of FEDTAP.

Every month, the succeeding batches will be started in different centres in the state. The course will be kick-started from Hyderabad centre.

Unlike other training courses, this counselling course will have exams at the end of each day and those who pass out will be admitted to the next class. A certificate will be issued on completion of all the 12 classes. He added that the course would elevate the drug traders into a higher level with special practice and knowledge for serving the patients.

The faculties of the course are selected from hospitals, pharmacy colleges, CROs and drug manufacturing companies. Guest lecturers will be invited from Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai. The syllabus of the program will include pharmacology, anatomy, healthcare standards, drugs management, storage conditions, space management and investment management for business.

While interacting with Pharmabiz, Venkat Raju said that in his state all the traders are under his organisation and there is no group of the opposite trade body operating there. So he can conduct the course for all the traders and every chemist and druggist will attend the course. He will be one among the participants in the first batch. FEDTAP has units in all the 23 districts in the state.

In the rural areas of the state, the drugs are being dispensed without prescription as there is lack of doctors in the rural hospitals. He alleged that the government was not providing any infrastructure facility in the rural areas for the healthcare system.

The president of FEDTAP said within next two years, the construction of the Tirupathi Chemist Bhavan will be completed. Construction of bore well and foundation has been finished. For the rest of the work, fund has to be collected from members and well wishers from the chemist community across the country. The present director of drugs control, M Kodandaram laid the foundation stone for the five-storey building of the project in May last year.