More students are showing interest in taking up pharmacy courses. This academic year, 392 new institutions across the country will offer diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate courses in pharmacy.
Educators have welcomed the trend, saying graduates get placed in the country and many go abroad for higher education. An attraction to students is the Pharm D course — the Doctor of Pharmacy, which, private institutions say, is well received by students.
On a par with U.S., Europe
A few years ago the Pharmacy Council of India approved of Pharm D. The six-year degree course includes one-year of internship. T. Ilango, Registrar of the Tamil Nadu Pharmacy Council, said the course had been approved by the Pharmacy Council of India and is on a par with those offered by the U.S. and Europe.
Dean of SRM College of Pharmacy K.S. Lakshmi said the Pharm D course is a PG programme that orients students to the clinical setting unlike the four-year B Pharm or M Pharm, after which students go into the pharmaceutical industry or get involved in quality control or get absorbed in the drug manufacturing industry.
“It helps, especially when we increasingly have patients coming with two or three diseases and their drug dosage must be carefully monitored,” she said.
At Sri Ramachandra University, all the 150 who graduated since 2013 have been placed, said D. Chamundeeswari, Principal of the University’s Pharmacy College.
The huge burden of lifestyle-induced diseases call for qualified patient educators to train patients in taking the right dose of medicine or administering insulin, she said.
Though private institutions are enthusiastic about the new course, no government college in the State has launched it. “It is only when the graduates’ capability is established will the government take it up. With advancement in gene-based therapy, there must be a professional who can understand, knows the drug and disease and the intricacies of treatment. We have a model in other countries. In India, with we need these professionals,” said T.K. Ravi, Principal of Sri Ramakrishna Institute of Paramedical Sciences, which runs the course.
