Nagpur: The state technical education department started the Pharma D (doctor of pharma) course in 2011 in Amravati and Aurangabad with the aim of creating ‘clinical pharmacists’ who would help doctors prescribe right kind of medicines.
But one batch of the six-year course (both UG and PG) has passed out and another will be coming out in 2-3 months with no signs of any of the students getting a job.
They are not being given registration certificates by the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) so that they can start practising. The reason for not issuing registration for practice certificate is that the colleges where they studied did not have any permanent teachers for the course.
Vinayak Ghayal, president of Pharma D Association of Maharashtra, told TOI that as students they were not aware of the problems of teaching. But now when the registrations are being denied to the students by PCI, the issue of their existence has arisen.
“We didn’t have teachers in a few subjects but all other subjects were taught to us by the teachers. We didn’t know that these were teachers who were not qualified and permanent. Now, our careers and whole life are at stake for no fault of ours,” he said.
Ghayal said that he along with association members met higher education minister Vinod Tawde many times. He also met the officials of All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), but to no avail. “We came to know about the teachers’ position only through an RTI. There should be 22 teachers for the course. But not a single teacher is on permanent post for the course,” he said.
As per the WHO norms, one clinical pharmacist is needed per 50 patients but there are no job openings at all in the government sector. “Why did the technical education department start the course at all if there were no teachers for the course? Students now cannot be taken for a ride for the present state of affairs,” said Ghayal.
A parent told TOI that he put his daughter in the course as it was a good option after MBBS and was a government-recognized course. “It is sad that the students from the private college run by ministers have got the practice certificates but those in the government sector are running from pillar to post for a job,” he said.
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