PharmD Course in India - Prospects & Constraints

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Dear Members:

I am reproducing below a much cited letter from the American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education on the introduction of PharmD course in India. Hope you all enjoy it and return back to netrum with your feedback about the same.

With regards

Dr. Geer M. Ishaq

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Pharmaceutical Sciences

University of Kashmir

Srinagar-190006 (J & K)

Ph: 9419970971, 9906673100

Website: http://ishaqgeer.googlepages.com

India to Introduce Five-Year Doctor of Pharmacy Program

Recently, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has proposed a plan to start a 5-year PharmD

program in India. The PCI has selected 20 pharmacy institutions in India and submitted the proposal to the

Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare for their review and approval. The idea is to educate and train

pharmacy students in India to meet the shortage of pharmacists in Indian hospitals and also to match the entrylevel

PharmD curriculum in the United States. The National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP)

new requirement that a foreign pharmacy graduate have 5 years of pharmacy education before applying to take the

Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Examination (FPGEE) in order to then take the North American Pharmacist

Licensure Examination (NAPLEX) and finally obtain a license to practice pharmacy in the United States

is the key reason for this change in pharmacy education in India.1-4 The movement towards a clinically oriented curriculum

is already afoot and we believe more countries in the Indian subcontinent and around the world will soon

follow the PCI decision.5 In fact, many pharmacy institutions in India, like Jadavpur University have started offering

a master of science (MS) course in clinical pharmacy to expand upon the basic pharmaceutical courses in the

4-year curriculum. Dr. Dutta, a Jadavpur University alum, was invited to his alma mater to provide a workshop for

the faculty in teaching clinical courses to pharmacy students.

We believe that students with advanced training in clinical courses meet the 5-year pharmacy requirement

for taking the FPGE. Currently, Jadavpur University is identifying US universities to establish collaborative

faculty and student exchange programs in pharmacy whereby faculty members from both institutions can visit

the host institution to gain valuable experience in teaching and research. Jamia Hamdard (Hamdard University), Dr

Ghilzai’s alma mater, has also started an MS course in pharmacy practice at the Faculty of Pharmacy. The course

is sponsored by Faculty of Pharmacy with Hamdard’s Hospital and will be of 2 years duration, out of which 2

semesters will cover course work and another 2 semesters will be devoted to a research project and practice experiences

to be undertaken in the Hospital. The new course has been established in Hamdard Hospital and the facility

of Drug Information Services, which also publishes a bimonthly newsletter on the current drug information,

has already been developed. Besides pharmacy faculty members, 2 clinicians from Hamdard’s Hospital are associated

with this course.

We really appreciate the PCI decision, which came after a visit by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy

Education (ACPE) delegation to India to meet with the PCI. Although this bold decision came very late, it is a

positive step in the right direction to popularize pharmacy education and to graduate skilled and knowledgeable

pharmacist who can work in clinical settings and counsel and manage drug therapy and improve patient’s health

care.

Until now, Indian pharmacy graduates have been mainly trained to work in the pharmaceutical industry

as product and formulation scientists. Pharmacy education in India has mainly focused on pharmaceutical sciences

courses, while clinical or pharmacotherapeutic courses have received far less coverage in the curriculum

and no students have ever undergone pharmacy practice experiences. According to one article, there are over 600

pharmacy colleges and schools in India producing over 13,000 pharmacy graduates yearly.

In the last few years, the issue was hotly debated and discussed throughout India to get a consensus to revamp

the pharmacy curriculum. It is suggested that the new pharmacy curriculum will entail courses in pharmacogenomics

and biotechnology and a significant portion of the curriculum will focus on pathphysiology, pharmcotherpaeutics,

and practice experiences.

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) is a statutory regulatory body for technical education

in the country that had been limited to overseeing technical education. However, in 2003, the AICTE

announced that it will constitute a National Engineers Registration and Licensing Board (NERLB) to provide

registration and licenses for practice of engineering in India.Wewould suggest that the PCI should work in close

association with the AICTE to introduce and mandate a similar national board examination for pharmacy graduates

to qualify to practice pharmacy in India. Wehave contributed twice here in the past to raise the issue of pharmacy education in India and in those letters

we suggested that pharmacy education in India needed to be more clinically oriented. We personally appreciate the

PCI’s decision to explore and involve an international accreditation agency and also congratulate the ACPE

for supporting the PCI.

Wewould like to thank AJPE for promoting the cause of pharmacy education in foreign countries. Many foreign

pharmacy graduates are employed as pharmacy educators in US colleges and schools of pharmacy. Also, foreign

pharmacy graduates constitute a large and growing number of the total pharmacist workforce in some US states.

Naushad M. Khan Ghilzai, PhD

LECOM School of Pharmacy

Arjun P. Dutta, PhD

School of Pharmacy

Pacific University

REFERENCES

1. Ghilzai NK. In response to the letter entitled, ‘‘Pharmacy Graduates from Foreign Countries Flooding US Job Market’’

[letter]. Am J Pharm Educ. 2004;68(1):Article 23.

2. Dutta A. In response to the letter entitled, ‘‘Pharmacy Graduates from Foreign Countries Flooding US Job Market’’ [letter]. Am J

Pharm Educ. 2004;68(1):Article 23.

3. Dutta A. The FPGEE Curriculum Requirement: An Insurmountable Hurdle? [letter]. Am J Pharm Educ.

2005;69(5):Article 105.

4. Ghilzai NK. New FPGEE Guideline [letter]. Am J Pharm Educ. 2006;70(2):Article 46.

5. Babar ZU. Pharmacy Education and Practice in Pakistan [letter]. Am J Pharm Educ. 2005;69(5):Article 105.

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