The various regulators and government authority need to understand the present role of a pharmacists. Accordingly, it should be re-design and assign to the pharmacists. We have equal opportunities in Pharma industry & Health care setup .which helping us to survive in this profession with some dignity and livelihood It is up to us where we wish to settle ourselves in future – either as a skilled quality assured manufacturer of dosage form in Pharma industry Or A perfect Multipurpose, useful, healthcare Associate in Heath care setup. Otherwise we have to be counted as pure trade personnel in a pharmacy store. Pharmacy Diploma, Graduates, Post Graduates Ph.D working in pharma industry purely on competitive ground with other Science Graduates, Post Graduates, Ph.D as we are in advantageous position with pharmaceutical sciences skilled and knowledge, we are enjoying much higher preferences among all employees in pharma industry.

1. Research and Education at Pharmaceutical Institutes in India
need introspection by professionals for survival in post
Covid-19 era
Dr Prabir Kumar Sinha Mahapatra(Sinha Mahapatra P.K)
pksmahapata2003@gmail.com / Contact: +91 8249416100
Associate Professor, Deptt. of Pharmaceutical Chemistry
Institute of Pharmacy & Technology, Salipur Cuttack Odisha -754202
INTRODUCTION
The world is moving, so do India. We are continuously improving ourselves and our
activities. Our society can achieve this with the help of education. Research is a part of that
education. Many specialized subjects are contributing significantly to the restructuring of the
human civilization.
Presently various authorities controlling the education in India have made Research as the
staircase for promotion in their career. Numbers of papers they publish fetch those necessary
scores during recruitment or periodical appraisals. If a research project does not solve a
problem of humanity then it would fail to achieve its desired goal whenever it is needed.
Like many other educational fields pharmacy is one specialized educational area where
students mainly learn preparation and quality testing of drugs, dosage forms and its
applications, adverse reactions, dispensing, distributions, many pharmaceutical care skilled
like injecting, BP measurement, Blood glucose test & information disseminating skill.
Community pharmacists are indirectly involved with patients (most of the cases) not as
directly as other caregivers like doctors, nurses and other paramedical staff. Since, legally
Pharmacists are not assigned to come in direct contact with the patients, Hospital pharmacist
get that chance to come in direct contact in CHC and PSC if there is no nursing staff is
available. Pharmacist is not officially counted as a part of the Healthcare system in India.
Though it is very true that pharmacists are playing major role in rural Government health care
set-up; they act as an assistant to doctor in many private setups.
When we impart pharmacy education or we do research in pharmacy we should remain

2. within our functional boundary. Many of us are involved in drug discovery and some
research which do not fall in the ambit of our functions as a Pharmacist.
Research is going on in Pharmacy and many of them are of good quality. Significant
achievements have been made in the field of formulation development at industrial level and
novel pharmaceutical packaging systems, etc. Pharma graduates are working on
pharmaceutical formulations since the inception of major pharmaceutical company in India
and developed many new formulations with novel packaging systems.
Following are the areas where thrust must be given by the pharmaceutical
researchers
1. Research on error free quality drug manufacturing, new dosage form, packaging,
preserving, cost reducing;
2. Research on drug administration systems, patient monitoring systems;
3. Research on very small scale manufacturing systems;
4. Research on easy biochemical / chemical analysis / data interpretations;
5. Research on record-keeping, information supply, judicious, cost-effective uses of
medicines;
6. Research on regulatory techniques / measures / misuses;
7. Research on better pharmaceutical educational systems, pharmaceutical teaching aids,
pharmaceutical educator training, designing virtual laboratory software or
frameworks;
8. Collaborative research in association with the fields of chemistry, engineering, bio-
sciences, pharmacology, etc.
9. Research on drug management, coordinating system in hospitals, nursing homes, etc.;
10. Research on continuous pharmaceutical knowledge disseminations, pharmaceutical
business model development;
11.Research on expiry control of pharmaceutical product and Inventory control.

3. Presently pharmaceutical scientists are concentrating on the following areas
1. Dosage form development, stability studies, cost effectiveness study of
pharmaceuticals;
2. Data analysis and interpretations;
3. Research on new drug discovery either herbal, chemical or computer aided drug
design (CADD) independently and they are rarely collaborative;
4. Research on drug marketing and effectiveness;
5. Pharmacological and therapeutic screening of chemical or herbals substances, dosage
forms via animal models or in silico analytical tools;
6. Analytical method development for raw materials and dosages forms.
The above research areas touch hardly 25% of the role of a pharmacist. There is no
substantial research work undertaken by the pharmaceutical educators in the areas of research
directly attached with the normal role of a pharmacist till date. Drug discovery is an intense,
time consuming and resource hungry activity which is rarely available to our profession in
India.
PHARMACY EDUCATION
After independence, Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has given approvals to many Pharmacy
institutions in India. As per the data published by Central Bureau of Health Intelligence
(CBHI) under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India, 11,25,222
Pharmacists are registered (Reference) in India till 31st March 2018. The highest number of
Pharmacists are registered in Karnataka (2.33 lakh) followed by West Bengal (0.89 lakh),
lowest being in Lakshwadeep - only 10. According to the data reported to CBHI by PCI, it is
written that India has only 1682 Pharmacy Institutions with an admission capacity of 99145
as on 31st March, 2018.
The above source showed 1682 Pharmacy institutions in India. It is not a correct number,
because in reality, the number is near to 1 lac 40 thousands intake capacity. The discrepancy
is not understandable. Anybody interested may check with the reference given in this article.
It may seem to be hiding the information intentionally or mistakenly printed.
[Ref: “National Health Profile (NHP) Of India 2019. Annually published and uploaded in the
Central Bureau of Health Intelligence, Directorate General of health services website.
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. Govt. of India.]

4. Regulators presently provide different curricula for producing registered Pharmacists with
D.Pharm, B.Pharm, Pharma. D and all these three having same entry qualifications i.e. +12
Sciences pass. All these qualifications have upgraded versions of qualifications like B. Pharm
(Practice), M. Pharm, Pharm.D (PB) and Ph.D.
As per the various notifications of the Government it is observed that Pharma personnels are
recruited as a pharmacist, as an analyst, as a drug inspector and educator in different settings
of Government, Private companies and or Institutes and used them for a variety of purposes -
starting from Drug Manufacturing, Analysis, Packaging, Distributions and Marketing
Promotions, Research and Training, etc.
Pharmacy educated personnels are knowledgeable enough regarding uses of drugs, but by
and large, the perception of common people is that they are trade personnels. The most
important reason for it is because most of the non-pharmacy people are running the pharmacy
and they are also equally knowledgeable regarding the uses of drugs. Pharmacists rarely
practice the profession and the glory is losing day by day. Government is continuously
creating alternative healthcare personnels, who do not have any formal pharmacy education,
hampering the credential of Pharmacists and distancing them from becoming part of the
healthcare system. Hope it is the duty of the concerned Ministry and Regulators to make it as
an integral part of the healthcare system. Pharmacists are neither paramedics nor doctors but
definitely they are multipurpose healthcare personnels. To strengthen the Indian healthcare
system it is the need of the hour that pharmacists are part of the healthcare system. If any
changes are needed in the curriculum that must be taken care of by our regulators.
POINT TO DISCUSS IN DIFFERENT FORUMS
1. Role of pharmacist must be revisited and revised;
2. Pharmacist must be an integral part of our healthcare system;
3. Orientation of research to be changed, patient care should get due importance;
4. Medical insurance / cashless treatment / transcription / wellness centre / pharmaceutical
care / life-saving skills / alternative medicines / medicinal plant harvesting, nutraceuticals
/ electronics item operations/ online trading should be included into revised syllabus.
5. Bulk drug synthesis / single therapeutics molecules(different dosage form
)pharmaceutical unit, supply chain integration system should be emphasized;

5. 6. Pharmaceutical care centre required to establish in every sphere of healthcare setup;
7. Entry level qualification / marks should be different for different curricula;
8. Every institute / Pharmacist must operate online / offline 24*7 medicine uses / doctors /
hospital information centre.
9. Practical training / Internship should be considered as one of the criteria for issuing
registration number;
10. Continuous education essential for all pharmacists.
CONCLUSION
The various regulators and government authority need to understand the present role of a
pharmacists. Accordingly, it should be re-designed and assigned to the pharmacists. We have
equal opportunities in Pharma industry and Health care setup. It will help us to survive in this
profession with some dignity and livelihood. It is up to us where we wish to settle ourselves
in future – either as a skilled quality assured manufacturer of dosage form in Pharma industry
or a perfect multipurpose, useful, Healthcare Associate in Health care setup. Otherwise we
have to be counted as pure trade personnel in a pharmacy store. Pharmacy Diploma,
Graduates, Post Graduates, Ph.D.s working in Pharma industry are purely on competitive
ground with other Science Graduates, Post Graduates, Ph.D.s. As we are in advantageous
position having knowledge and skill in pharmaceutical sciences, we are enjoying much
higher preferences among all employees in pharma industry. Covid-19 alerted us. It is
observed that Pharmacists are working as frontline responders to covid-19 patient care in
many developed countries. Whereas, in India we remain as a medicine supplier and a silent
spectator. It is unfortunate that even our ministry did not publish any guidelines for Pharmacy
and Pharmacists, how to act during covid-19 like emergency situations. Hope it is the right
time to shape our profession in a right direction.
N.B Content is purely based on personal views, data presented as per Ref indicated.
Any positive discussion and correcting my points is highly solicited.
REFERENCES
1. https://www.cbhidghs.nic.in/