PHARMACY: It is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing,
dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe,
effective, and affordable use of medicines.
The word pharmacy is derived from the Greek word “PHARMAKON” meaning
‘drug’.
HISTORY OF PROFESSION OF PHARMACY IN INDIA
The pharmacy profession is related to the development, manufacturing and
distribution of the high quality drug products with guaranteed effect.
In India, pharmacy was a part of Ayurvedic and Siddha system of medicinal
practices and the role of pharmacist was to prepare and dispense drug
formulations such as tinctures, pills, mixtures, syrups, powders etc. to the
patients as per prescriber’s prescription.
The govt. of India enacted “The Pharmacy Act 1948” to regulate the pharmacy
profession in India. Govt. of India focused on Pharmacy education through this
act to ensure community skilled, trained and qualified pharmacist.
Nowadays, India is being known as “The Pharmacy of The World”.
PHARMACY EDUCATION IN INDIA
Pharmacy programs/courses are offered in India today :
Diploma in Pharmacy (D. Pharm.)
Bachelor of Pharmacy (B. Pharm.)
Master of Pharmacy (M. Pharm.)
Master of Science in pharmacy [MS (Pharm)]
Practice-based Doctor of Pharmacy (Pharm. D.)
Doctor of Philosophy in Pharmacy (Ph. D)
EVOLUTION & EDUCATION OF PHARMACY IN INDIA
In India first ever pharmacy course was introduced by the Portuguese
in Goa.
1870: The beginning of pharmacy education in British India started at
the Madras Medical College.
1937: 1st Degree level course in pharmacy started at Banaras Hindu
University (BHU) (3 Year degree course) under the leadership of
Professor Mahadev Lal Schroff. He is known as the father of
Pharmaceutical education in India.
1940: 1 year Master course (M Pharm) started at Banaras Hindu
University (BHU).
In the same year Subhra Kumar Patni became the first pharmacy
graduate (B.Pharm) in India from BHU.
1943: Gorakh Prasad Srivastava became the first ever Pharmacy
postgraduate (M.Pharm) in India from BHU.
1953: Sheovihari Lal became the first PhD holder from University of
Patna under the guidance of Dr.Achari, Department of Pharmacology.
1949: The first Diploma college Institute of Pharmacy, Jalpaiguri was
established in west Bengal.
1990: B.V. Patel PERD Center (Pharmaceutics Education & Research
Development Centre) established at Ahmadabad & the director was H.L
Bhalla.
1998: National Institute of pharmaceutical Education and Research
(NIPER) was established at Mohali with Dr. C.L. Kaul as the first
Director.
2008: Delhi Pharmacetical Science and Research University, the first
Pharmacy University of India and perhaps Asia.
PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY IN INDIA
1811: In Kolkata M Bathgate first opened a chemist shop & came to
India along with East India Company.
1901: The first Pharmaceutical Industrial or manufacturing facility in
India was founded by Acharya Prafulla Chandra Ray named Bengal
Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works Ltd.
1907: Alembic Chemical Works Ltd. Was established by Prof.
Tribhovandas Kalyandas Gujjar at Vadodara, Gujrat.
1935: Chemical, Industrial and pharmaceutical laboratories (CIPLA)
founded by Khwaja Abdul Hamied at Bombay.
1954: Hindustan Antibiotics Ltd (HAL), the first public sector
pharmaceutical company was established in Pune with the help of WHO,
UNICEF. This company involved in the commercial product of
antibiotics like penicillin, streptomycin, gentamycin and amoxicillin etc.
The Indian pharmaceutical industry is the world’s 3rd largest by volume
and 14th largest in terms of value.
India has the second-highest number of US FDA-approved plants
outside the US.
India is a global leader in the supply of DPT (diphtheria, tetanus, and
pertussis), BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine), and Measles
vaccines.
India is the largest provider of generic drugs globally. Access to
affordable HIV treatment from India is one of the greatest success stories
in medicine. India is one of the biggest suppliers of low-cost vaccines in
the world. Because of the low price and high quality, Indian medicines
are preferred worldwide, thereby rightly making the country the
“Pharmacy of the World”. The Pharma sector currently contributes to
around 1.72% of the country’s GDP.
VARIOUS PHARMACY PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATIONS
FIP- The International Pharmaceutical Federation.
IPA- Indian Pharmaceutical Association.
APTI- Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India
IHPA- Indian Hospital Pharmacist Association
IPGA- Indian Pharmacy Graduates Association
AIDCOC- All India Drugs Control Officers’ Confederation.
⃰ PHARMACY AS A CAREER
PRACTICE SETTINGS
Community: It is the field where a registered pharmacist provides his professional
services through a medical store. Usually, the community pharmacist has
responsibilities including compounding, counseling, checking to provide the
medications to patients based on the prescription from their doctor. He dispenses
medicines with a prescription and in certain cases without a prescription where
applicable (OTC drugs).
Clinical: Clinical pharmacists work directly with the doctors, health professionals,
nurses and patients on safe and rational use of drugs prescribed for patients
contribute to the best possible health outcomes.
Hospital: Hospital pharmacy is the health care service, which comprises the
art, practice, and profession of choosing, preparing, storing, compounding, and
dispensing medicines and medical devices, advising patients, doctors, nurses
and other healthcare professionals on their safe, effective and efficient use.
INDUSTRY
Production: It is the department where a pharmacist may be involved in
production of pharmaceutical products, vaccines to maintain the smoothness of
the operation and deliver quality products in timely manner.
R & D: In this department a pharmacist may involved in drug discovery,
formulation and process development. During the discovery research phase of
development of a medicine pharmacist will work with other scientists to
develop and select drug compounds that may be valuable as medicines.
QA: In this department a pharmacist may involved in preparing, reviewing,
submitting documents and also assuring overall quality management.
QC: Quality control (QC) is a process through which a business seeks to ensure
that product quality is maintained or improved. Quality control involves testing
units and determining if they are within the specifications for the final product.
Packaging: Pharmaceutical packaging (or drug packaging) is the packages and
the packaging processes for pharmaceutical preparations. It involves all of the
operations from production through drug distribution channels to the end
consumer.
Sales & Marketing: Pharmaceutical marketing involves all of the promotional
activities, strategic planning and team management carried out by an organization
to make pharmaceutical products available to customers (patients and other
decision makers) from the manufacturer.
Regulatory Affairs: In this department a pharmacist may be involved in
preparing, reviewing, communicating, submitting registration documents on
pharmaceuticals to regulatory agencies such as CDSCO, USFDA to get R&D
testing, production and marketing approvals.
OTHER SETTINGS
Academics: Academic Pharmacists are full-time faculty members of an
educational institute (e.g. University, Polytechnic, etc.). They are involved in
teaching and training of the future generations of pharmacists and
pharmaceutical scientists. Besides teaching, academic pharmacists in a
university also engage in research.
Regulatory (Government): Also known as government pharmacy,
regulatory pharmacy is responsible for creating rules and regulations for the
safe use of medicine to promote positive health outcomes. This includes
pharmacists working in public health and regulatory health boards, such as
the Food and Drug Administration in the United States.
Some modern jobs for Pharmacists: PV, Medical coder, AI (Artificial
Intelligence).
