Ancient art of healing
In ancient Babylonia, around 2600 B.C the
three P’s considered for healing were the Priest, Pharmacist and a Physician. Medical texts
were recorded on clay tablets, the first symptoms of illness, and then followed
the directions for compounding and lastly supplication to gods. The ancient
methods of treatment still find their reflections in the line of treatment for
different ailments. The existence of priest and physician has strong survival
but the value of pharmacist is not to the criterions which should have been.
The revered man of pharmacy and medicine Galen, practiced the profession around 200 A.D. He
practiced and taught pharmacy in Rome and a class of pharmaceuticals compounded
by mechanicals is named as ‘Galenicals.’ His principles of preparation and compounding
pharmaceuticals were practiced in western world for 1500 years. The cold crème
was born only in his lab. Another name Carl Wilhem Scheele who gave the world those discoveries
that have brought its people immeasurable advantages. He made thousands of
experiments discovered oxygen, chlorine, prussic acid, tartaric acid, tungsten,
molybdenum, glycerin, nitroglycerin and countless other organic compounds.
Looking behind we see more than 50
centuries of practicing pharmacy, and is doubtlessly regarded as jugular vein
of healthcare system. But the discrimination and lack of acknowledgement has
carved few deep wounds into the hearts of pharmacy professionals. Pharmacists have always contributed for the
welfare of human existence be it from Avicenna ‘The Persian Galen’ (980-1037 A.D) or Shen Nung
(2000 B.C) who wrote the first Pen T - Sao (native herbal recording) of 365
drugs.
The development of new chemical
compounds which were created to fight the disease causing organisms in the body
was done by French Pharmacist Ernest
Francois Auguste
Fourneau (1872-1949 ) who for 30 years headed the world renowned
Institute Pasteur in Paris. From his lab, Antihistaminics came into existence. There
is an endless list of contributions by pharmacists which can be written in
golden words but somewhere somehow we lack the recognition in the present
scenario of health care system especially in India.
There are more than 1500 institutions
offering various pharmacy courses across India. About 100,000 students enroll
themselves in these institutions for various courses. Courses like Diploma in
Pharmacy (D.Pharm), Bachelors of pharmacy (B.Pharm), Master of Pharmacy (M. Pharm),
Master of Science in Pharmacy (MS. Pharm), Master of technology in Pharmacy (M
Tech Pharm), Doctor of Pharmacy Pharm D etc. Few courses like integrated
courses of pharmacy with MBA have also been initiated. The
pharmacists from India should understand that India is going to be a global
leader in pharmaceutical Industry in future and there is still so much to work
and achieve. We need to keep ourselves updated and geared up, to cater the
needs and requirements of future technologies which are going to invade the
market right from the pre formulation stage to final smart patient compliant
packaging or targeted delivery of drugs.
Mohi Durakshan
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