“It is the need of the hour to change our gears and adopt a focused approach to impart the best pharmacy education keeping our curriculum in line with the latest developments in the field and also provide extensive education of specialized drugs so as to benefit the reach of pharmacists in the country”. This was stated by Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare, Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar as she inaugurated Pharma Anveshan-2023 on the occasion of National Pharmacy Education Day. The day commemorates the birth anniversary of Prof. M.L. Shroff – father of Pharmacy Education of India. The event was organized with a vision of providing a platform for sharing the academic research with industry to exchange the benefits of research outcomes between academia and industry. This can help in exploring commercial purpose based on the academia – industry interlinking.
Dr Bharati Pravin Pawar congratulated Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) for organizing “Pharma Anveshan 2023” to promote research & innovation, enhancing industry academia. She discussed the contributions of "Prof M.L.Schroff" in this field, stating “A pharmacist is just as important as doctors and nurses in helping patients get treated for diseases and other health concerns. Pharmacists know the science of medicine in and out. They ensure that the patients get the right dose of life-saving prescriptions. By educating a patient and making sure their prescription is safe to take with their other health conditions and medications, pharmacists improve their quality of life and possibly even save a life. During the COVID pandemic, Pharmacists played a vital role in maintaining the supply chain of essential medicines.”
Reiterating Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi’s words – “innovation should not only be the goal of our science, but innovation should also drive the scientific process forward”, she urged everyone to work on need-based medicine manufacturing and emphasized on the crucial role of Pharmacists in the battle against AMR (Antimicrobial Resistance). She also suggested PCI and pharmacy institutes to create awareness about drugs and its usage, importance of hygiene, community disease prevention, survey and data collection.
Dr Pawar further highlighted that under the visionary leadership of Hon’ble Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi, the Government of India has successfully laid the foundation to tackle the challenges related to the health system of the country. The government of India has prioritized developing its human resources towards developing a resilient, efficient and adaptive healthcare system.
Accentuating on the future healthcare landscape need, Dr Pawar accentuated the pivotal role of pharmacists in the future of healthcare, evolving beyond dispensing medicines and becoming an essential part of your healthcare team. “Patient counselling and maintaining patient medical history can also be our focus area for better utilization of medicines and reducing adverse events. Doing so will help reduce the cost of treatment.”
The MoS emphasized that it is necessary for PCI not only to keep the pace with global changes but also lead research in this area so that Indian pharmacy sector leads the world in innovation. The world trusts India today and this earned trust has garnered India the title of "Pharmacy of the World". She informed that it is important to ensure that the drugs manufactured in the country and consumed by international consumers are of high quality and comply with standard global manufacturing protocols, thereby ensuring that the "world ensure India's reputation as the "Key Pharmacy" and provide high quality pharmaceutical products to consumers.” This can be done by producing better quality generic medicines, medical devices in the country and by increasing Research & Development (R & D), innovation and production capacity.
She also launched a 'One Stop-Non Stop' digital job portal of Pharmacy Council of India, which will be useful for pharma professionals as well as recruiters from the industry. This will prove to be a game changer for the students coming from small towns and villages.
At the event, PCI also signed Memorandum of Understanding with Karnataka Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Manufacturer’s Association (KDPMA), Life Sciences Sector Skill Development Council, Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship (LSSSDC), Indian Pharma Alliance (IPA) and Federation of Pharma Entrepreneurs (FOPE) to reduce the gap of industry and academia, strengthen faculty and student training and promote entrepreneurship and infrastructure development.
Dr. Rajeev Singh Raghuvanshi, Drug Controller General of India elaborated on the need to promote interdisciplinary research and innovation through industry-academia strengthening. He said that the core of pharma business is quality and India has grown leaps and bounds in last 25 years in this area. He elaborated on the need to create fear free environment and risk-taking environment in order to promote innovation.
Dr. Montu Kumar Patel, President, PCI, Anil Mittal, Registrar cum Secretary, PCI, Prof. Y.K. Gupta, Head, AIIMS, BR Sikri, Secretary, Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA), Dr. G.N. Singh, Secretary-cum-Scientific Director, Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission, Dr Rajiv Desai, Senior Technical Advisor, Indian Pharma Alliance, Harish K Jain, President, KDPMA were also present in the meeting along with senior officials of ministry, IPC, IPA, industry experts and representatives from various institutions.