Need Of Skills Development In Pharmaceutical Curriculum_Essay by Annanya

The Indian pharmaceuticals market is the third largest in terms of volume and thirteen largest in term of value and it accounts for 20% in the volume terms and 1.45 in value terms of the Global Pharmaceutical industry as per a report by Equity Master. India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally with the Indian generics accounting for 20% of global exports in terms of volume. Of late, consolidation has become an important characteristic of the Indian pharmaceutical market as the industry is highly fragmented. India enjoys an important position in the global pharmaceuticals sector. The country also has a large pool of scientists and engineers who have the potential to steer the industry ahead to an even higher level. Presently over 80 per cent of the antiretroviral drugs used globally to combact AIDS are supplied by Indian pharmaceutical firms. The UN- backed Medicines Patent Pool has signed six sub-licenses with Aurobindo, Cipla, Desano, Emcure, Hetero labs and Laurus Labs, allowing them to make generic anti- AIDS medicine TenofovirAlafenamide(TAF) for 112 developing countries.

Indian pharmaceutical sector is estimated to account for 3.1-3.6% of the global pharmaceutical industry in value terms and 10% in volume terms. It is expected to grow US$100 billion by 2025. The market is expected to grow to US$55 billion by 2020. The sixth largest pharmaceutical market globally by absolute size, as stated by Mr Arun Singh indian Ambassador to the US. The sector is expected to generate 58,000 additional job opportunity by the year 2025.

Pharmacy education in India traditionally has been industry and product oriented. In contrast to the situation in developed nations, graduate pharmacists prefer placements in the pharmaceutical industry. In India formal pharmacy education leading to a degree began with the introduction of a 3 years bachelor of pharmacy(B.pharm) at BHU in 1937. At that  time the curriculum was presented as a combination of pharma chemistry, analytical chemistry and pharmacy which prepared graduates to work as specialist in quality control and standardization of drugs for pharmaceutical companies but not for pharmacy practice. Before 1947, there were 3 institutions offering pharmacy degree programs. At independence in 1947, India inherited a system for the pharmacy profession from the British rulers that was unorganized and there was  no legal restriction on the practice of pharmacy. The concept of pharmacy practice was not realized until after independence was gained. In 1948 the Pharmacy Acts was enacted as the nation’s first minimum standard of educational qualification for pharmacy practice, education and profession of pharmacy. Currently one needs at least a diploma in pharmacy to practice as a pharmacist. Provisions of the Act are implemented through the Pharmacy Council Of India(PCI). The act requires individual states to establish state pharmacy councils that are responsible for controlling   and registering pharmacist in their respective states.

A variety of pharmacy degree programs are offered in India: Diploma in pharmacy(D.Pharm),    Bachelor in pharmacy(B. Pharm), Master of Pharmacy(M. Pharm), master of science in pharmacy[MS(Pharm)], master of technology in pharmacy[MTech(pharm)], doctor of pharmacy(pharmD), and doctor of philosophy in pharmacy(phD). These entry point, for D Pharm, B pharm, and Pharm D programs is 12 years of formal education in the sciences. The DPharm minimum of 2 years  didactic coursework followed by 500 hours of required practical training anticipated to be completed within 3 months in either a hospital or community setting. The B Pharm involves 4 years of study in colleges affiliated with universities. Students holding a B Pharm  degree can earn an M Pharm degree in 2 years of which the second year is devoted to research leading to a dissertation  in any pharmaceuticals discipline, for instance pharmaceutics, pharmacology, pharmaceutical chemistry or phrmacognosy. Recently M Pharm programs on industrial pharmacy, quality assurance, and pharmaceutical biotechnology have been introduced. To train the graduate pharmacist to provide clinical oriented services, The M Pharm program  in pharmacy practice was introduced at Jagadguru Sri Shivaratreeswara(JSS) college of pharmacy at Mysore in 1996 and at Ooty in 1997. There are 6 NIPERs in India offering MS(Pharm), M Tech(Pharm), and higher level degrees. The NIPERs were created with the vision of providing excellence in pharmacy and pharmacy related education. Students with an M Pharm degree in any discipline can work toward a PhD with an additional minimum 3 years of study and research. The Pharm D 6 years of full time study. The Pharm D program was introduced in 2008 with the aim of producing pharmacists who had undergone extensive training in practice sites and could provide pharmaceutical care to patients.

The D pharm curriculum that was revised in 1991 and is the same across all colleges. Curriculum change can be undertaken by central government notification through an amendment of the Pharmacy Act. The basic pharmacy courses of the program consist of mostly old and outdated concepts with many unnecessary topics that are of little practical value. The Pharmaceutics practical subject is devoted to preparations of aromatic waters, iodine and other simple solutions, tinctures, extracts, and spirits among others. The Pharmaceutics II practical devotes 100 hours to learning at least 100 prescription products and their compounding and dispensing methods, and covers mixture divided powders, liniments and various incompatibilities in prescription products. All of these topics are of little relevance in an era where manufactured ready to dispense medicines are widely used and accepted. The orientation of the pharmacist has changed from the product to patient. The expansion of the role of the pharmacist received an important boost in 1990, when Helper and strand coined the term pharmaceutical care. Pharmaceutical care is the responsible provision of drug therapy for the purpose of achieving definite outcomes that improve the patient’s quality of life. Approximately 30,000 students receive D Pharm degree each year and enter the profession without being taught pharmaceutical care concepts and many other areas of contemporary pharmacy. There is no standardized B Pharm curriculum and it varies across the universities that offer this degree. It is industry and product oriented. The vast majority of pharmacy colleges offering education are away from practice sites and there is no compulsory training in a practice site. Unlike other countries the curricular revision and innovation in India have not received adequate attention. The B pharm program of most of the Indian universities  include a mix of basic science,   advanced chemistry and analytical chemistry and basic pharmacy. The curriculum has 18 laboratory components. In addition, it devotes around 40% for chemistry and analysis-related subjects. The curriculum does not include coursework in the behavioral and social sciences, and health care policy. 

The M Pharm degree program requires an additional 2 years of study  after a B Pharm degree. The M Pharm degree is offered in many disciplines such as pharmaceutics and pharmacology. The curriculum is divided into 2 parts. The first part consist of 1 year of didactic course work and the second part involves completing a research project under the supervision of a pharmacy faculty member in a chosen discipline. Students who pursue an M Pharm in industrial pharmacy may undertake research projects in pharmaceutical industries during their second year of the curriculum. An industrial expert is responsible for part of the research, serving as the students co supervisor.  An M Pharm degree in pharmacy practice/ clinical pharmacy was started in 1996 with the aim of training the post graduate pharmacy students in patient- oriented service. Students of M Pharm programs undertake their second year research projects in either a hospital or community setting. Most of the B Pharm graduates are not attracted to this clinically oriented M Pharm program are analyzed  and published in  the journal which explains that postgraduates with an M Pharm in clinical pharmacy cannot opt to work as clinical pharmacist in Indian hospitals, as the value of clinical pharmacy services is not recognized and the current regulatory framework does not yet recognize the need for clinical pharmacist at the national level.

The introduction of the PharmD program may not help clinical pharmacy education and practice in India and apprehensions have been raised regarding inadequacies within the Pharm D curriculum, unclear professional advantage over the current D Pharm program as a professional degree and promotion of the pharm D degree to gain international status and provide pharmacists for the united states.

Some flaws in present systems:

·         Entry of unqualified and non meritorious students into the course

·         Non focused and unspecialized way of learning

·         Out dated curriculum and educational regulations.

·         Lack of industrial and clinical exposure.

·         Unskilled ways of practical and lab training in the institute.

·         Research output from Indian educational labs rarely lead to commercialization and revenue generation.

·         Given the market needs for trained man power, teaching takes total priotiry over research in our universities.

·         Institutional base of research in India is extreamly narrow.

Improvement:                                                                        

Every college should provide the students an atmosphere to nourish his/ her internal skills and qualities. A system should be devised so that each and every student gets an opportunity to freely think and develop his/her skills to the maximum. Professionalism can be cultivated only through rational ways of thinking and performing.  Students should come out with their ideas and suggestions in any aspect of education and especially be focused on innovative research. They should be trained to improve their presentation  skills and their personality. Clinical and practical training should be given more importance and made a part of the curriculum. Research oriented way of learning is more effective rather than mugging up a lot of theory. The knowledge of a pharmacy student should be current and always the updation of his/her knowledge is necessary. He/ she should be aware of what are the latest changes going in the field of pharmacy.

In order to demonstrate the requirements for pharmacists in India, it is necessary to undertake a pharmacy workforce study, to review pharmacy education programs and to compare them with the roles that have been accepted internationally. Then to design and develop pharmacy degree programs  perhaps one program exclusively for industry and another for practice.