Pharmacy professionals seek PMs intervention for speedy implementation of PPR-2015 and its 2021 amendment

Mumbai, August 8, 2022:

In a bid to improve standards of pharmacy profession in India, scores of Pharm D graduates and other pharmacy professionals from across the country have sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention for implementation of Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 (PPR-2015) and its amendment in 2021 without further delay.

Besides implementation of PPR, they also sought Prime Minister’s intervention for implementation of their other demands which include maintenance of separate register for Pharm D containing their names with ‘Dr’ prefix, issuance of ‘registered clinical pharmacy practitioner’ certificate to Pharm D pass-outs, starting centralized Pharm D admission process, introducing amendment to the Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 to enable creation of pharmacovigilance centres and pharmacovigilance associate posts for Pharm D graduates in all government and private hospitals.
Pharmacy professionals also communicated their demands to the Union ministry of health and family welfare and Pharmacy Council of India (PCI).
 
Pharmacy Practice Regulations (PPR) was notified in January 2015 by the central government aimed at regulating and enhancing the status and practice of pharmacy profession in the country.
 
“PPR 2015 is framed with the intention of uplifting the status of the pharmacy profession and thereby achieving the goal of patient care. These regulations remained largely unimplemented in our states even after 7 years, in the absence of support from the state governments. PCI has amended the PPR 2015 with a regulation called Pharmacy Practice (Amendment) Regulations 2021 for Pharm D professionals in India. PCI with the approval of the Union government has notified the post of clinical pharmacist and drug information officer in the government Gazette dated June 30, 2021. So, PCI should direct all state pharmacy councils in our country to take up the issue of implementation of PPR – 2015 and Pharmacy Practice (Amendment) Regulations 2021 with the respective state governments. PCI should also direct all state pharmacy councils to form a special committee for the implementation of PPR 2015 and Pharmacy Practice (Amendment) Regulations 2021 and submit a detailed proposal to respective state governments,” said Simon Joshua, president of Indian Pharm D Doctors Association, Kerala (IPDA Kerala).
 
Talking about their demand for a separate register for Pharm D pass-outs and issuance of clinical pharmacy practitioner certificate to Pharm D pass-outs bearing Dr prefix, Joshua said “Since Pharm D is a doctoral programme, the nomenclature of their services should be registered clinical pharmacy practitioners instead of registered pharmacist. So, PCI should circulate an order directing all state pharmacy councils to maintain a separate register for Pharm D graduates, to be registered as registered clinical pharmacy practitioners. PCI should direct all state pharmacy councils to enter the names of the Pharm D holder into the register – roll with ‘Dr’ prefix and issue a certificate as registered clinical pharmacy practitioner. The Central register of the PCI should also be converted this way, thus uplifting the standards of the Pharm D profession.”
 
Chiming in with him, Dr. Ramprasad Kakasaheb Nagare, national president, National Doctor of Pharmacy Association said there should be a centralized Pharm D admission process.

“There are two government pharmacy colleges in Aurangabad and Amravati offering Pharm D courses in India. All other pharmacy colleges offering Pharm D courses are self-financing pharmacy institutions. The private pharmacy colleges were admitting the students to the Pharm D programme by collecting a huge amount of capitation fees. The management was charging a huge amount towards the course fee. To regulate the admission process, government intervention is essential. PCI needs to initiate steps to introduce centralized entrance examination for Pharm D and entrust the process of conducting examination and admission to the Commissionerate of Entrance Examination. Students seeking admission to Pharm D courses must qualify the competitive examination conducted by the Commissionerate of Entrance Examination. College should fill up the total intake from the list prepared by the office of the Commissionerate of Entrance Examination. This will uplift the standards of the Pharm D course,” said Nagare.
 
He said the Pharmacy Practice Regulations 2015 needs to be amended to enable creation of pharmacovigilance centres and pharmacovigilance associate post for Pharm D professionals in government and private hospitals in India. This will help evaluate therapy and review treatment outcome, he stated, adding, “Drug safety is a basic human right and yet we don’t have a system to monitor drug safety from hospital level.
 
A significant number of pharmacy professionals observed a five-day long hunger strike in support of their demands in front of the PCI office, New Delhi from August 1-5, 2022. PharmaBiz