05/10/2022
Expressing strong objection to the demand made by a Kerala based Pharm D Graduates Association that the PCI should maintain a separate register for Pharm Ds and issue certificates mentioning ‘Registered Clinical Pharmacy Practitioner’ by adding the prefix ‘Dr’ with their names, ‘the Assam based Association of Advanced Pharmacy Practitioners’ (AAPP) has apprised the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) that the demand is against the Pharmacy Act 1948 and cannot be accepted.
AAPP has further informed PCI, the national pharmacy practice regulator, that all pharmacy courses in India are designed and introduced by the PCI with the approval of the union government under section 10, 11 and 12 of the Pharmacy Act 1948 and there is no provision for keeping separate register for a particular course or a higher qualification in pharmaceutical science. Similarly, there is no provision to certify a pharmacist as a Registered Clinical Pharmacy Practitioner.
The association said if a separate register is kept for the Pharm D pharmacists, other categories of registered pharmacists like D Pharm, B Pharm and M Pharm will also raise such illegitimate demands to create headache for the council. Further, it will create a section of ‘creamy layer’ in the pharmacy profession.
Making strong objections, AAPP argues that in the case of medical professionals and dentists, no separate register is maintained by the respective councils for registering additional qualifications or higher qualifications. Similarly, the nursing council keeps only one register for the graduates, postgraduates and Ph D holders. AAPP has reminded the PCI that the demand for a separate register for Pharm Ds is totally unjustifiable within the ambit of the Pharmacy Act 1948, hence the demand should be rejected.
Talking to Pharmabiz from Guwahati, Gajendra Haloi, general secretary of the AAPP said there is no need of a ‘Dr’ prefix for a pharmacy professional to mean that he is a registered pharmacist in India. Several universities award doctorate degrees (PhD) in different fields as per the UGC Act and such awardees can use the prefix ‘Dr’ along with their names. Ph D holders can use the prefix even without registration with PCI. But as per the Pharmacy Act, the state pharmacy council is the registration authority who registers the certificates of the qualified persons in their names. The council is not authorized to write the prefix before the names of the pharmacy course passed people irrespective of lower or higher qualification. So, the AAPP vehemently opposes the illegitimate demand of the Pharm D Association to issue certificates with ‘Dr’ prefix by pharmacy councils.
The association of the advanced pharmacy practitioners has reiterated their earlier demand to the PCI that the central council should stop the diploma course (D Pharm) and make degree (B Pharm) as the basic qualification for pharmacy profession. The pharmacist cadre should be based on one qualification and should not make a distinction between lower qualification and higher qualification. The basic qualification should be a degree in pharmacy (B Pharm) to highlight the slogan, One Nation, One Cadre. He said whosoever wants to do Pharm D can do it after their degree (B Pharm) as a postgraduate course like M Pharm because PCI has already approved the six year pharmacy course, Pharm D, as a postgraduate degree. It is not equal to Ph D to use the prefix, ‘Dr’, said Haloi.
In order to substantiate their arguments, AAPP has quoted the verdict of the Guwahati High Court of 30 October 2014 in a case between IMA Assam chapter and the Government of Assam, in which the court had observed that creation of two or more cadres in the same profession is unconstitutional. Following this judgment, the Nursing Council of India gradually abolished the GNM nursing course. In the backdrop of this judgment, PCI should also stop the D Pharm course and admit students only to degree course, B Pharm.
Source: Pharmabiz
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