A leading expert from the industry, Raj Vaidya, urged the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) to take pro active step towards changing the pharmacy education of the country so as to provide it with the required impetus needed to sustain and enhance the reputation of this profession.

With a view ensure the same, Vaidya, a practising community pharmacist from Goa who played a key role in introducing the Good Pharmacy Practice (GPP) concept in India, urged the government to focus on total revamping of the pharmacy educational system along with strengthening the regulatory norms to stress on compulsory pre-registration test for all the pharmacists before they are eligible to practice pharmacy.

Reports suggest that quality of the education imparted at the pharmacy colleges has declined drastically affecting the reputation of the profession at large. In fact, Vaidya pointed out that, where the diploma curriculum is completely outdated, the degree curriculum has barely anything about hospital and community pharmacy in it, more so ever due to the constant difference of opinion between the PCI and AICTE.

What is more alarming according to Vaidya, who led the GPP initiative of IPA, including preparation of the GPP training manual in a collaborative project of IPA with DCGI and WHO India Country office, is that most of the courses imparted at the colleges are more industry oriented than practice. This leads to inexperienced students handling medicines and patients at large. He stressed that the government till now maintained a lacklustre attitude and did not show any initiative to improve the quality of education.

“Today, most of the pharmcy graduates take up this course only with the aim of joining the industry rather than retail pharmacy. One of the most disturbing observation we have made lately, is that most of the students only opt to join retail pharmacy as the last option rather than a deliberated professional choice. One of the main reasons for this is that the curriculum is largely designed keeping in mind the industry requirements rather than pharmacy practice, which needs to be changed immediately,” informed Vaidya immediate past chairman of IPA CPD.

He further stressed to enhance and sensitise the importance of pharmacy practice as a full fledged professional choice, the syllabus needs to be changed as per the latest requirement to include in detail the principles and importance of retail practice as an additional course. Further to damage control the situation it is necessary to adopt compulsory pre-registration test for all pharmacists before they are eligible to practice pharmacy by an independent agency, which cannot be influenced into wrong doing and mal practice.

Vaidya informed, “Most of the countries have pre registration examination to test the ability and the expertise of the pharmacists. India too needs to change its educational parameters as per the changing requirements and demands. If we want good quality, competent pharmacists, which will eventually hold the nation in high esteem, we have to be thorough and professional in the way our education is provided, and the way students are tested before they become pharmacists. And we will do our level best to see to it that the government realise this need at the earliest for the better future of this profession.”