The Hindu Business Line : Wanted: 2 lakh pharmacists a year

"We need about two lakh pharmacists a year to cater to the boom in the pharmaceutical industry," he said, addressing a gathering of pharmacists and students of pharmacy, at a seminar organised by the Indian Pharmacists Association.

Referring to a McKinsey report, he said the pharmaceutical industry is poised to grow to $25 billion by 2010 from the present $8.5 billion. Drugs exported by Indian companies constitute 60 per cent of the US generic drug market.

More colleges

To maintain this share and grow further, "we need more pharmacy colleges in the country," he said. Currently, there are two lakh working pharmacists and about 15,000 graduates who pass out of 300 colleges every year.

Students pursuing masters and other higher education courses would benefit immensely from this industry boom. Aside from conventional areas such as drug manufacturing, quality control and analysis, he said, students specialising in areas such as drug development, patent expiry, drug formulation, clinical research and aspects of drug regulation would have job opportunities in India and abroad.

Core system

Mr J. Jayaseelan, Secretary of the Indian Pharmaceutical Association, said the Government must recognise pharmacy as a core clinical function and not a support service to the medical profession.

To increase awareness about the profession, associations in the pharmaceutical industry are organising the Indian Pharmaceutical Congress in Mumbai from December 1 to 3. The event will host discussions on the industry and the role of pharmacists under the theme `Pharmaceutical Industry: Vision 2020'. Over 60,000 sq ft has been dedicated to display new technologies and instruments relating to Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients and generic drugs.

How they come now

There are over 5.5 lakh pharmacy stores in India with about 25 per cent of them being wholesale outlets, according to Mr M. Arulkumar, General Secretary, the Tamil Nadu Chemists and Druggists Association.

Each pharmacy requires at least one pharmacist present through the day. But 24-hour pharmacies should have a pharmacist on duty for every eight-hour shift.

According to Mr Arulkumar, Graduates of Pharmacy (B.Pharm) or Sciences (B.Sc) can handle operations in a pharmacy store. However, it would be difficult to say how many pharmacists are currently working in the outlets.

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