Inspired from the business development educational programmes implemented for drug traders by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD), its affiliated body in Tamil Nadu, TNCDA, will kick-start their academic courses on professional excellence on Friday in Chennai.

The course with five Modules extending to 15 days will cover lessons of business development, personality development, communication skills, pharmacy development and changes in consumers’ behaviour. It is learnt that the course will enhance the professional competence of the drug dispensers and make them on par with international standards.

The chairman of C L Baid Mehta College of Pharmacy, Dr Vinod Khanna will inaugurate the training programme meant for the member pharmacists of the Tamil Nadu Chemists and Allied Distributors Alliance Ltd (TNCDA Ltd) at the College auditorium in the morning. R Sreenivasan, the director of the Academy for Professional Excellence formed by the organisation will be present on the occasion. The training course will be launched with a lecture on business development by Raj Vaidya, the chairman of the community pharmacy division of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA), Goa.

Sharing details of the programme, the secretary of TNCDA Ltd, M Arul Kumar said in the beginning, the first Module of the programme will have five days refresher classes which will help build the confidence of the working pharmacists. The five days classes will be conducted in two stages, with first stage contains three days programmes and the second after one week. He said the training programme will impart, other than the minimum requirements, the highest standards for maintaining a pharmacy.

As per the rules of the company (TNCDA Ltd), only the shareholders can become the participants of the professional excellence course. But in the beginning, to attract all the traders into the association, entry will be given to all the non-registered pharmacists provided they are owners of the pharmacies and having years of experience in the trade. On completion of all the five Modules of the course, the member pharmacist will put a brand name “Allianz” with their upgraded shop.

The faculty members for the course are selected from pharmacy colleges, manufacturing industries, regulatory bodies and doctors’ community. R Sreenivasan, the director of the course has expressed the hope that a participant of the course will change his mindset from a mere vendor of drugs to a true professional after the completion of the course in full.