E-DRUG: The PharmD degree in developing countries (4)
---------------------------------------------
Re PharmD course: India.
India is a country where the pharmacy education & profession has evolved on a different set of
political, industrial and health care historical backround. Thus the clinical aspect has been mostly
under the control of the medical profession, ( The Indian medical council was constituted much before the Independent India ,1947, whereas the pharmcay councils were constituted much later after the independence).
Even the reguatory authorities in drugs were constituted after 1940s , and came into effect in an
institutionalised manner much after the medical councils only during early years of Independence i..e after 1947.
Most of the bachelor in pharmacy courses in India, which came into existence after Independence, are thus mainly industry oriented giving emphasis to medicinal chemistry, and industrial pharmacy rather than the clinical aspect . This suited well since then the pharmaceutical Industry was also evolving and the fruits are there for every body to see. (today the pharmaceutical Industry in India is one of the competitive ones internationally.)
Now re pharm D , I feel there is nothing wrong if the PharmD course students are trained to cater to the needs of manpower requirements of clinical pharmacy in the west. Eventually the benefits of the clinical pharmacy will be felt by the regulatory authorities in developing countries like India , as the country progresses and the laws can then be amended to have a better professional stutus for clinical pharmcy pracice in community and health care.
Lastly any status of a profession in any developing country can only survive , sustain, and gain
acceptance in the oveall context of history, governance, rate of economic growth, population density, regulatory mechanism, and labor laws etc. In this context every yardstick of western standards cannot be blindly applied to developing countries.
CK Aiyer.
IHMR,India.
faculty, pharmacy management
chandrasekar kalyanram <chandrarobert@yahoo.com.au>