INDIAN PHARMACIST ASSOCIATION

Maintainance of central register by the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) containing the name of all persons for the time being entered in the register for a state is a mandatory requirement u/s 15-A of the Pharmacy Act, 1948. The data of registered pharmacists in the states has to be provided by the State Pharmacy Councils to the PCI after the first day of April of each year as per sub-section (2) of section 15-A of the Pharmacy Act. The PCI is not able to fulfill this mandatory requirement due to non-reciept of the register from the State Pharmacy Councils inspite of regular and repeated reminders.

Therefore PCI has requested the State Pharmacy Councils to provide the data of registered pharmacists upto 01.04.2011 alognwith a CD to enable the council to maintain the central register.

In a move that may bring a major change in the overall performances of the working pharmacists in the state, the Kerala State Pharmacy Council (KSPC) is gearing up to strictly enforce section 46 of the Pharmacy Act 1948 from January 2012 onwards, under which no pharmacy outlet will be allowed to work without registered pharmacists dressed in uniforms.

As per the Act, every working pharmacist, whether in government sector or private sector, has to follow the code of conduct prescribed in the act, said K C Ajith Kumar, president, KSPC. He said this is in addition to the reform being implemented by the council by enforcing section 42.

With the implementation of section 46, uniform for pharmacists working in the pharmacies of hospitals and medical shops will become mandatory. No pharmacy outlet will be allowed to work without registered pharmacists dressed in uniforms.

“We have started the programme in certain areas of some districts tentatively, and it will be implemented in all the 14 districts from January onwards. Notices were already issued to all the hospitals, clinics and medical shops. Practical training has also been given to 17000 working pharmacists in a period of 10 months. The state drugs control department has also agreed to co-operate with this mission of the pharmacy council. Soon Kerala will become the first state in the country with all working pharmacists clad in uniforms,” Ajith Kumar told Pharmabiz.

He said the pharmacy council has chalked out a training programme for registered pharmacists and it will commence from March onwards. All the employed and unemployed pharmacists can join the three months program which will provide practical training classes for managing a drug store, retail dispensary, billing and management of clinical pharmacy. All graduates and diploma holders of pharmacy can enrol for the course with a nominal fee.

“The fresh graduates of pharmacy are not efficient to run a pharmacy or retail shop without training. Our advanced training programme will equip them to manage a store and provide the technical know-how required for better clinical and store practices. The first batch of the program will comprise 50 pharmacists and the duration of the course is three months,” the president of the pharmacy council said.

With this goal in view, the pharmacy council has established an institute for advanced training course, and in the end of the course a certificate will be issued to the participants.

In a major crack down on pharmacies for operating without registered pharmacists, the Andhra Pradesh Drug Control Administration (AP DCA) conducted raids on the retail and corporate pharmacies in the state and booked as many as 281 cases against the medical shops spread across the state.

In the raid, it has been found by the AP DCA officials that more than 70 per cent of the pharmacies in the state are operating without registered pharmacists and do not issue regular bills to consumers.

The raids were conducted by DCA as a part of its special drive to check the functioning of registered pharmacists in the state. The drug inspectors and other DCA officials found various irregularities by many medical stores and issued notices to them especially with regard to the absence of the registered pharmacists and for selling outdated drugs at the stores.

Corporate pharmacies like Apollo, Hetero Pharmacy, Medimart and Medplus were also raided.

When contacted a DCA official said, “We have conducted the raids as per the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940 (DCA), the Drugs and Cosmetics Rules, 1945 (DCR). Many pharmacies are not complying with the rules and acts as mentioned while issuing the license.” Based on the complaints, the DCA has acted on the pharma stores and brought to light many irregularities.

About 406 retail medical shops throughout the state were raided  and out of these 281 retail medical shops were found selling medicines in the absence of registered pharmacists and without bills.

All the licensing authorities and assistant directors were directed to issue show-cause notices to the violators and appropriate action following the notices would be taken by the licensing authorities.

“We have noticed that registered pharmacists were not available at many retail pharmacies. So, the DCA inspected over 406 retail medical shops, including retail outlets of corporate pharmacies. Out of these, 281 medical shops were found selling medicines without pharmacists or without bill,” Said  R P Thakur, director general of DCA, Andhra Pradesh.

“We have even found that some expired drugs are being sold without bills and we have checked all these aspects while raiding the shops,” Thakur said.

“In addition to issuing show-cause notices, the shops will be closed for one week. If the same violation is repeated, we will cancel their license,” he said.

Source: Pharmabiz

Sir/Madam

It may kindly be recalled that vide notification published in Gazette of India, Part-III, Section-4, No. 19, May 10- May 16, 2008, the Pharmacy Council of India has introduced Pharm.D qualification as a registrable qualification under the Pharmacy Act, 1948.

In this connection, I am directed to inform that Pharm.D. qualification from an institution approved by the PCI u/s 12 of the Pharmacy Act 1948 is an approved qualification for teaching D.Pharm, B.Pharm, M.Pharm and Pharm.D./ Pharm.D (Post Baccalaureate) courses. As such a candidate holding Pharm.D. qualification from an institution approved by the PCI u/s 12 of the Pharmacy Act, 1948 shall be eligible for consideration for teaching posts at appropriate level in pharmacy institutions.

This is for information.

Yours faithfully

Sd/-

(ARCHNA MUDGAL)

Registrar-cum-Secretary

Source: PCI

Karnataka State Registered Pharmacists Association (KSRPA)is  insisting that the D Pharm needs to be restructured as 10+5 years  which is after SSLC +5 study course. The streamlining of the course pattern would become more effective for the candidates who would be able to get the required knowledge and experience in the field.

With the pharmaceutical industry on an aggressive growth path, there is need to reorganize the education system in the diploma  space, Ashokswamy Heroor, president, Karnataka State Registered Pharmacists Association (KSRPA) told Pharmabiz.

The Association has now urged the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) to restructure the diploma course as a 10+5 year one. The requirements of 500 hours training may also be included as part of the 3 years study. The 500 hours could also be increased to 1000 hours which could cover dispensing and cosmetics manufacturing activities, he added.

“Alternatively, we suggest that the D Pharm could also be restructured as a 10+2+3 (SSLC+PUC+3) year study pattern. The compulsory training period may be embedded in the third year study,” stated Heroor.

New subjects like blood banking techniques, drug interaction reporting, clinical trial techniques, de-addiction procedures, computer basics, regulatory affairs, defending procedures in courts, consumer protection laws and provisions of the Right to Information Act, Weights and Measures Act, Packaged Commodities Act, need to be added on. Such topics would add much relevance to the current industry scene and prepare the candidate with the theoretical know-how which can be applied on the job, he said.

There is also a need to include the subject of Drug Price Control Order in the third year of the course. “It would help the candidate to not only upgrade the knowledge, get better job opportunities, but also help in handling the drug related offences like sale of spurious drugs, stated the president, KSRPA.

By adopting the 10+5 years system or the 10+2+3 years, the pharmacy colleges will also benefit in many ways. There is no doubt that the reoriented system will result in increasing the quality of pharmacy education and will give a fillip to the profession. Hence in the interest of all registered pharmacists, the KSRPA has urged the PCI to restructure the diploma study in pharmacy, stated Heroor in his representation.

According to Heroor, the decision to revamp the D Pharm comes in after the New Education Regulation 91 issued by the PCI said that diploma in Pharmacy comprises of two years of class room study after pre university course followed by the practical session of 500 hours spread over not less than  three months. “Under this D Pharm holder would have 10+2+2+1/2 years of study. The length of the course is viewed to disadvantageous for the candidates.”

The key detriments would be that the D Pharm with this syllabus  would come in the way of promotions for those in government service as they would be recruited as junior pharmacists and would have to retire in the same post. They are denied promotions to the senior pharmacists levels on the ground that these candidates do not have 15 years of formal schooling.

Another factor against the course is that candidates are not eligible to register as voters under the Graduate’s consistency for the same.

Despite the hue and cry to alter the pattern of D Pharm course as 10+4 after SSLC, the PCI had vetoed down the proposal. Now KSRPA has taken on the onus to recommend restructured as 10+5 years which is after SSLC +5, said Heroor.

Source: Pharmabiz

The Andhra Pradesh Pharmacy Council has launched a campaign against registered pharmacists who hire out their certificates to other unqualified persons for running medical stores. The council is planning to recruit Pharmacy inspectors in the state to check the illegal renting of certificates.

“Over the past 30 years, lending of certificates has become a regular practice by the pharmacists. More than 90 per cent drug stores are violating the norms of recruiting a qualified pharmacist for dispensing the drugs. Instead they are hiring certificates from registered pharmacists and employing unqualified people at the stores. To check this menace, we are planning to recruit 26 new pharmacy inspectors by the end of this year. These inspectors will have the authority to check and inspect the medical shops for any misrepresentation,” said Annappareddy Vijayabhasker Reddy, president, AP Pharmacy Council.

According to 1948 Pharmacy Act 26 (A), lending or impersonating certificate is a crime and if found guilty it will amount to a punishment of 6 months imprisonment along with a fine of Rs.1000. The council even has the right to derecognize the certificate.

To speed up the registration process and bring accountability in the council’s activities, the newly elected president is also planning to atomize the registration process. “We want to shun the old practice of issuing certificates manually, rather we want to computerize all the processes and make it online for the convenience of the candidates. We want to digitize all the earlier data and store it in a master server. This will enable us to retrieve and verify any query easily in future,” said Reddy.

For this academic year, the council is planning to complete all the registrations by the end of January 2012. So far, 71,000 pharmacists have been registered in the state, another 50,000 pharmacists have not got registered due to the issues related to non recognition of institutes. Next year it is estimated that about 72,000 pharmacists will get registered as the profession is slowly getting its recognition.

During the past 6 months, the council could generate a revenue of Rs.70 lakh by increasing the registration fee from Rs.500 to Rs.5000. “During the past 30 years, the state council could generate only Rs.2 crore of revenue, while other states like Maharashtra and Kerala have generated Rs.22 crore and 11 crore respectively. We are far behind them. Now, as we want to modernize and provide much better services we need money and thus we have increased the registration fee,” Reddy said.

Source: Pharmabiz

The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), the statutory body formed to regulate the pharmacy education and practices in the country, has decided  to change the syllabus for diploma in pharmacy course (D. Pharm) to make it healthcare oriented. The changed syllabus is expected to be introduced from next academic year.

Sources said that though a decision to this was taken in its Central Council Meeting held in February 2011, discussions are still on to prepare the nitty-gritties of the changes that have to be effected.

Experts said that the decision to make changes in the syllabus was taken as the PCI noticed that the syllabus, prepared way back in 1991, for the diploma course was vast, and the students were finding it difficulties to absorb the course. The changing scenario of pharmacy and current modern development makes it necessary to change the syllabus frequently.

The syllabus for each technical course needs to be updated to meet the current requirement of the country or to put new development in the new course, experts feel.

Dipankar Chakroborthy, vice president, PCI said, “We have not changed the syllabus for such a long period after it was set in 1991 and the expectation of  the minimum registrable qualification of pharmacist may be changed from diploma to degree. But that  decision of the central government is pending. Now it has been decided that PCI cannot wait for indefinite period for the decision of the Government to change the syllabus.”

The members of the Council has decided that the modification of the syllabus should be taken up on priority basis. While deliberating on the issue, members had pointed out that there is a need to look at the syllabus from the healthcare point of view, i.e. whether the students coming out of the institutions can act as a healthcare provider in the current healthcare set-up.

Chakroborthy informed that the present syllabus is not serving the current healthcare need. It was resolved that the diploma syllabus need to be thoroughly revised and should be made healthcare oriented.

PCI is responsible to provide a pharmacy education that focuses on the future requirements of pharmacists in the country, taking into consideration the demands of the healthcare landscape in the future. It is therefore important that the pharmacy education should be constantly revised and updated to meet the challenges.

PCI regulates the profession of pharmacy and frames education regulations prescribing the conditions to be fulfilled by the institutions seeking approval of the PCI for imparting education in pharmacy and to ensure uniform implementation of the educational standards throughout the country.

Source: Pharmabiz

The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has pointed out that the standards in Pharmacy education in Andhra Pradesh have touched rock bottom. Owing to this, the council has urged the state government to restrict B. Pharma seats in each pharmacy college to 60.

Over the past few years, several colleges were sanctioned with intake ranging from 100 to 300 seats by the All India Council for Technical Education, (AICTE) despite a request from PCI to cap the seats at 60.

The PCI president, Prof. B Suresh and PCI education division chairman Prof. T V Narayana met the officials of the higher education department and urged them not to grant approvals for more than 60 seats. Earlier, in 2010, owing to higher demand for admission to B. Pharm and M. Pharm, the AICTE had decided to increase the seats from 60 to 120 and 8 to 18 respectively. During the year, Andhra Pradesh had 98 Pharma colleges with an overall intake of 3970 students in these colleges.

If quality of education is maintained, pharmaceutical sector provides greater career opportunities for the students. There are more than 20,000 units manufacturing drugs and pharmaceuticals in India, employing almost 1.5 million people. There are various job opportunities in areas like in hospitals, stores, laboratories, etc.

Seeing the growing number of students opting for pharmacy as a career, the demand for admission in to the pharmacy colleges have drastically increased during the past few years. Many colleges offer courses like 2 years Diploma in Pharmacy, 4 years Bachelor of Pharmacy, 2 years Master of Pharmacy etc. The eligibility criteria is10+2 or equivalent examination with Physics, Chemistry, Maths or Biology. They also offer specialization in subjects like Pharmaceutics, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Biochemistry, Pharmaceutical Marketing & Management etc.

Of late, it has been observed in many colleges that the college administrations are flaunting the basic norms needed to upkeep the quality in pharmacy education. Many colleges are not employing qualified teaching faculty. The laboratories and other basic infrastructure facilities are lacking in these colleges. For every additional intake, it is mandatory to have adequate basic facilities like labs, faculty, and  infrastructure to maintain the desired quality in education. “Today we see students who have secured higher qualifications in pharmacy; but most of them fail at the interview. They do not even have the basics knowledge of chemistry. I wonder how they are clearing their final exams,” a source said.

Source: Pharmabiz

The Union health ministry’s ambitious plan to establish an overarching regulatory authority in the medical education sector will be a reality soon as the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) is learnt to have given the green signal for the draft bill on National Council for Human Resource in Health (NCHRH).

The draft bill, which was finalised by the union health ministry, for the establishment of the NCHRH as an overarching regulatory body for health and allied sectors, has received the approval from the PMO. Now that it has received the PMO approval, it will be put up before the Union Cabinet and will finally be introduced in Parliament for its final nod, sources said.

The NCHRH is proposed to be established by the health ministry as an overarching regulatory authority in the country to reform the current regulatory framework in medical education and enhance the supply of skilled personnel to the healthcare sector in the country. Once in place, the NCHRH will be the overarching regulatory body for all the premier medical educational institutions and autonomous regulatory bodies like Medical Council of India (MCI), Pharmacy Council of India (PCI), Nursing Council of India (NCI), Dental Council of India (DCI) and the proposed Central Councils for Paramedical and Allied Medical Sciences Education.

It will prescribe standards with a view to have proper planning and co-coordinated development of medical and allied health education throughout the country and maintain national live electronic register of medical and allied health professionals.

As per the draft bill, the administration of the Council will consist of a Secretariat headed by a Secretary-General who will be appointed by the Council for a fixed term of three years. Under this secretariat, seven departments, each for separate categories like Medicine, Pharmacy, Nursing, Dentistry, Rehabilitation & Physiotherapy, Public Health & Hospital Management and Allied Health Sciences, will be established and headed by a director for regulatory purposes.

In every state, there will be separate bodies constituted by the Council for each administrative department which will be known as Registration and Ethics Board with name of the state in front and the department’s name in the end. These bodies will replace the existing State Councils. These boards have to maintain a live electronic register of professionals in the state of the respective Department to be known as ‘State Register of (name of the Department) and which will be linked to the National Register of Human Resources in Health maintained by the Council.

Each Board will comprise of a president, a vice-president and not less than 10 members out of which three will be women candidates. There will be a nominee of the state government also.

Source: Pharmabiz

In a scathing attack on Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) for its disapproval notice given against the six months course being conducted by the Academy of Pharmacy Management and Guidance (APMG), Kolkata, the secretary of the academy said their course is different from the courses offered by PCI, hence they don’t want any recognition from the statutory body.

The academy was floated by West Bengal Unit of the All India Chemists and Distributors Federation (AICDF) to train the unqualified pharmacists in the state. The traders associated with the academy demand for amendment in the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 in respect of dispensing of drugs from retail shops.

Coming down heavily on the decision of the pharmacy council, the traders argue that they are getting packed formulations from manufacturing companies and handing over the drugs against valid prescriptions. They neither make any drugs nor add anything into the formulations, then why should they appoint qualified pharmacists in their drugs stores. Instead, they will train their pharmacy workers updating with latest developments and knowledge about new drugs.

In response to the letter sent by PCI to the Academy stating disapproval of its six months course, Drug Store Management Course, the Secretary of the Academy, Joydeep Sarkar has commented that he did not want any recognition from the PCI or from West Bengal Pharmacy Council to run their course as it is not meant for registration. The course is meant only to upgrade the knowledge of the pharmacy workers, especially D-category pharmacists who are in plenty in most of the rural areas of the state.

“Our course is compact, tailor-made and pharmacy-friendly. It is aimed to the practical knowledge of those who are engaged in the drug stores without sufficient qualifications. We are updating with the latest developments happening in the pharmaceutical sector, especially knowledge about new drugs. This is not for registering with any council or for any higher study. We are giving training to our workers,” he said.

He said the Diploma and the Degree courses approved by the PCI are in many ways inadequate and  insufficient  to run a chemist shop conveniently. The D Pharm course consisting two years study and 500 intern hours is much below than the International standard of contemporary studies conducted in foreign countries. This PCI approved courses do not include much of the regular practical training and knowledge about drugs and pharmacy in the entire curriculum, which are the obligatory part in pharmacy management and operation, he said while accusing the statutory body for disapproving his 6 months course.

He said it is a pity that PCI instead of taking steps to avoid the shortage of registered pharmacists for the chemists shops in the country, bringing stringent norms just to make the healthcare services complicated. APMG is trying to follow WHO‘s guidelines to arrange proportionate health workers for the ailing community even in the remote, rural areas where government health support is very poor. The Academy believes that it is no way unconstitutional to learn more for improving skills and services while the pharmacy workers are engaging in essential and specialty products. The Academy is very keen to educate and update the experienced pharmacy workers to reduce the probabilities of minimum mistakes from any chemist shop while serving or dealing with the patients, the secretary of the academy told Pharmabiz.

“APMG has never published any newsletter or circular or notes demanding their DSM Course as an alternative to the D-Pharm or B-Pharm course. We subsequently demand amendments in the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 to eradicate the ambiguity and confusing facts in respect of dispensing of drugs,” he added.

Academy of Pharmacy Management & Guidance has already arranged constructive meetings with the ministers and MLAs of west Bengal on this burning issue and is hopeful that a favourable decision from the government will come out soon. According to him the academy will open more study centres of DSM Course in other districts shortly.

Source: Pharmabiz