STATUS OF PHARMACY AS A COURSE IN INDIA

Pharmacy being a paramedical field has a para importance as that of medical. It has great reputation in developed countries but here in India Indian mass considers pharmaceutical science to be futile.Students studying in schools are always guided by their parents for fields like medicals, engineering and civil services on the top. but seldom it happens that a parent promotes his or her child to go for pharmaceutical sciences because they have limited knowledge regarding this and they only fear from MR thing i.e medical representative a starting post in pharmaceutical marketing.

students studying in biology stream are indelible to go for medical but maximum of which when fail to go in medical then they are perplexed that whether they should opt for B.tech biotech or nanotechnology or B.tech bioinformatics or biomedical engineering and at last for B.pharma. This because all other courses have glamor in their names so students go blindly for these courses without caring and knowing about their futures, rest of students opt for b.pharma and bsc.

Out of these students 50% of students enroll only because they didn't get admission elsewhere & 20% students go for it because they can open a chemist shop and rest of 30 % students come knowingly that for what purpose they have chosen this course.

This is is status of pharmacy in India. There is lack of competition and therefore the cream of students is taken away by other courses.

To avoid this, work has to be done at core level. Government will have to raise the status of pharmacists and will have to open esteemed colleges like NIPER. Private companies will have to conduct workshops and seminars in the schools to educate students and make them aware about their glorious field. And lastly most importantly government should make pharmaceutical course keeping in the mind that medical aspect should aways be there which is found in developed countries and thus the pharmacists gain more reputation.

The main reason for pharmacy as a substitute field to medical is that it is pharmacists who have to every time go and advertise their medicines to doctors. Government should amend rules and make law under which the doctors will have to go compulsorily for at least one meeting with pharmaceutical representatives and get aware and updated about the drugs.This meeting should be at national as well as state level.

Until private companies do not actively participate in promotion of pharmacy as a career pharmacy is not going to achieve the grace in its status.