PCI has also suggested a cap on the number of seats offered by pharmacy colleges to improve quality of education.
Mumbai: The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has proposed that
pharmacists should be recognized as practising professionals with legal
obligations not only to patients, but also to physicians and other
healthcare workers.
“Medicines are being misused and the number of
drug-induced diseases is increasing. So, we are looking to legally bind
pharmacists (who are mostly employed in chemist shops) in delivering
certain outcomes and emphasizing their competencies very clearly,” said
B. Suresh, president of PCI, which last week submitted draft guidelines
to the health ministry to this effect.
He expects the health ministry to accept these proposals
under the National Commission for Human Resources for Health (NCHRH), if
the Bill to create the body is passed during the forthcoming budget.
PCI,
in its draft guidelines, has also suggested a cap on the number of
seats offered by pharmacy colleges to improve pharmacy education.
“Lax
regulations over the number of seats that colleges were permitted to
offer for the bachelor of pharmacy course led to colleges offering 300
seats as per the norms of All India Council for Technical Education or
AICTE.” said Suresh.
PCI regulations allow anywhere between
60-100 seats. “This has led to court cases being filed when we do not
grant approval to colleges offering more than 100 seats,” said Suresh.
Currently,
there are colleges that offer either a four-year bachelors course, a
two-year diploma or a six-year doctorate to roughly 50,000 students a
year. Pharmacists holding a doctorate can work in the field of medical
therapy management, which allows them to take decisions on medicine
intake of patients who require long-term medication for diseases such as
diabetes, cardio-vascular diseases and organ transplant patients.
Currently, there are 70 students who have qualified for the pharmacy
doctorate.
PCI is also submitting a white paper on the various
ways to improve quality of education in the field. The council, which
had earlier proposed to scrap the diploma course and make it mandatory
for all pharmacists to do a bachelors, has now revamped the course to
make it effective and relevant to modern day care.
“The present
one is more science-intensive, whereas the new diploma will be more
practice intensive, more relevant to the physician, the patient and the
community where they are working,” said Suresh, adding “they need more
training with regards to safety, storage, adverse reactions, etc.”
Teachers
of these courses will also come under the scanner and be held
responsible for information they provide to the council, if the PCI
recommendations are accepted by the government.
The council also
hopes to update the education of the current diploma holders and is
looking to introduce regulations to have a bridge programme—an online
and contact-based programme that will allow these diploma holders to
earn this degree while working.
“We have submitted these
regulations to all the states and have got good feedback. We hope to
convert all diploma holders to degree holders in the next 10 years,”
said Suresh.
Being recognized as professionals will also help
pharmacists charge a service fee, though the chemists lobby said the
move is not practical. “After paying the physicians fee as well as that
of the drugs, consumers will not be willing to pay this fee as well.
This is not practical,” said J.S. Shinde, president of the All India
Organisation of Chemists and Druggists. Shinde, however, welcomed the
other suggestions as they will be very useful to help update the
knowledge of many pharmacists. “It will be very useful for older
pharmacists and also likely to help them get higher salaries with better
qualifications,” said Shinde.
SOURCE:LIVE MINT .
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