As a step towards updating the knowledge of pharmacists in line with pharma industry needs, Rajasthan Pharmacy Council (RPC) is planning to launch a new Continuing Educational Programmes (CEPs) from January.

Says Alok Bhargava, member, RPC, "We will be holding a meeting in the month of January 2014 to devise new industry based CEPs which will help pharmacists to update and follow standards in pharmacy practice existing globally."

The council had conducted five CEPs last year and has witnessed an overwhelming response from the community pharmacists.  "The meeting will also discuss the budget for conducting CEPs so that it can cater to over 40,000 registered pharmacists in the state. Budget is not a constraint for us as we do a good number of registrations on an annual basis. With a total of 41,000 registrations till date, RPC does 3500 registrations on an annual basis," he informs.

Taking into consideration the pharmacist's role in serving the industry and trade in a professional and ethical manner, Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) is also looking into the quality assurance aspect in CEPs. As a part of the quality assurance programme, PCI is working on models to strengthen CEPs with certain variations to customize it according to the needs of pharmacists in various parts of the country based on the regions and their requirements.

These programmes will involve industry people and other stakeholders in the process of framing the curriculum to give the much required exposure to the pharmacists.

As a step towards value enhancement in the quality assurance programme, PCI is also planning to launch 'train the teachers programme' by next year for which Rs.1 crore has already been allocated.

CEPs bear importance in the current scenario as 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.