The slow registration process for the 64th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress is annoying the captains of the IPC meet in Chennai. Besides, shifting of the IPC venue to the Chennai, the Tamil Nadu capital, from Goa has also disappointed a section of pharmaceutical industry leaders.

The IPC is scheduled for December 7 – 9 in Chennai this year and the theme of the Congress is “Pharmacy Education – Innovation, Strategies and Globalization”.

In the Local Organising Committee meeting held on November 18 at the sprawling SRM University campus, the proposed venue of the IPC, the President of the 64th IPC, Prof K Chinnaswamy urged the members to work hard for the promotion of the registration process. When 18 days only remaining for the mega event, Chinnaswami said only 30 per cent of the expected participants have registered so far.

According to reports, the event was shifted from Goa to Chennai under the pretext of accessing easy conveyance to all delegates and of adequate facilities available in Chennai for the meet, highlighting the poor infrastructure in Panaji.

From all over Tamil Nadu, the host state where more than 45 pharmacy colleges are working, so far only 211 student-delegates have registered as participants putting the total number of students’ registration into 2234 from all over India. The confirmation of participation of faculty members from across the country is only 400 as on last Saturday when twenty days only remaining for the congress. The organising committee plans to implement various strategies to mobilize at least 8000 delegates to this year’s conference with the support of all member organisations of the IPCA association, such as IPA, IPGA, IHPA, AIDCOC and APTI.

The IPC of this year is organised by APTI, the association of pharmaceutical teachers of India. About 105 speakers from India and outside are expected to the conference which will include 19 symposiums and three panel discussions on various subjects.

For encouraging broad participation in the conference from industry, academia, hospital pharmacies, regulatory bodies and student community, the organizers are offering a three-tiered fee structure with lower registration fee for student-delegates. The members of the associations will also get a relief when compared to non-member pharmacists. On completion of registration with full payment, the participants will be given a conference bag and other materials including abstract CDs and gifts. The student volunteers will be given T-shirts, sarees, churidars and caps. The materials will be handed out on site, said J Jayaseelan, the organizing secretary of the IPC.

The registration fee for students this year is only Rs.2309 including tax and for teachers it is Rs.3933 provided they fulfill the process in November. Fee for participants of non-members of IPC Association is Rs.5618 with tax. But the registration fee will increase in the days coming close to the meet, according to information from the IPC committee. The service tax charged is 12.36 per cent for every participant.

When contacted S V Veeramani, the chairman of the LoC, he said, ”students from pharmacy colleges in Tamil Nadu will come forward for registration only late as the program is held in their own state. So, they think they can register at any time, but we are putting pressure on them and the college managements to get it done at the earliest. Regarding registration from pharmacy colleges in Andhra Pradesh where the number of teaching institutions goes beyond 250, we are aggressively engaged in getting registration from the students and faculty members.”

Veeramani expressed the hope that they would satisfy the maximum number of delegates this year with participation from abroad also. But poster presentation will be allowed only on the second and third days, he said.