The Andhra Pradesh government has decided not to allow setting up of new Pharm D colleges in the state for the academic year 2018-19 as even the existing graduates of Pharm D are finding it extremely difficult to get a suitable job in the absence of a separate employment cadre for them.
According to sources in the health department, as already the existing graduates of Pharm D are suffering from unemployment as they are not having adequate job opportunities, the health minister has decided to put a halt to setting up of new Pharm D colleges.
Welcoming the move by the state government, Dr.K. Sai Kumar, president of Doctor of Pharmacy Association (DoPA) said, “With already lakhs of Pharm D students roaming on the roads not having adequate employment opportunities, giving permission to new Pharm D colleges is meaningless. We welcome the move by the state government.”
As the government has already decided to set up a 6-member committee and expected to come out with suitable solutions to the Pharm D graduates within next 45 days, the stay on establishing new colleges is definitely a positive move.
At present there are already more than 60 colleges across Andhra Pradesh offering the 6 year Pharm D course and churning out more than 5-6 thousand Doctor of Pharma graduates in the state, adding more colleges will only create further new problems rather than solving the existing ones, opined the DoPA president.
Earlier last week, the Pharm D graduates had held a protest on 23rd January 2018 demanding creation of clinical pharmacy posts across all government hospitals in the country. The major demands of the Pharm D graduates is that ever since creation of the new course the government had failed to a suitable cadre for their qualification in the hospitals or in the healthcare set up. “In foreign countries like USA, Canada and Europe, Pharm D graduates are given highest priority and are being inducted into their healthcare systems on par with the MBBS graduates. They play key role in counselling the patients and advise them on dosage of prescribed medicines. They are also playing key role in monitoring and identifying any adverse drug reactions in the hospitals. Unfortunately, though our government is crying of not having adequate healthcare staff in the hospitals, they are failing to utilise the services of the well qualified Pharm D graduates and their services. The main reason for this is the lack of awareness among our policy makers who have failed in using the available qualified human resources to full fill the needs of our healthcare system,” observed Sai Kumar.
Dr. Sai Kumar says, Pharm D graduates are well qualified and they can be inducted in the healthcare system of the country wherever necessary and their services can be utilized very well even in rural areas, where there is severe shortage of medical practitioners.
According to sources in the health department, as already the existing graduates of Pharm D are suffering from unemployment as they are not having adequate job opportunities, the health minister has decided to put a halt to setting up of new Pharm D colleges.
Welcoming the move by the state government, Dr.K. Sai Kumar, president of Doctor of Pharmacy Association (DoPA) said, “With already lakhs of Pharm D students roaming on the roads not having adequate employment opportunities, giving permission to new Pharm D colleges is meaningless. We welcome the move by the state government.”
As the government has already decided to set up a 6-member committee and expected to come out with suitable solutions to the Pharm D graduates within next 45 days, the stay on establishing new colleges is definitely a positive move.
At present there are already more than 60 colleges across Andhra Pradesh offering the 6 year Pharm D course and churning out more than 5-6 thousand Doctor of Pharma graduates in the state, adding more colleges will only create further new problems rather than solving the existing ones, opined the DoPA president.
Earlier last week, the Pharm D graduates had held a protest on 23rd January 2018 demanding creation of clinical pharmacy posts across all government hospitals in the country. The major demands of the Pharm D graduates is that ever since creation of the new course the government had failed to a suitable cadre for their qualification in the hospitals or in the healthcare set up. “In foreign countries like USA, Canada and Europe, Pharm D graduates are given highest priority and are being inducted into their healthcare systems on par with the MBBS graduates. They play key role in counselling the patients and advise them on dosage of prescribed medicines. They are also playing key role in monitoring and identifying any adverse drug reactions in the hospitals. Unfortunately, though our government is crying of not having adequate healthcare staff in the hospitals, they are failing to utilise the services of the well qualified Pharm D graduates and their services. The main reason for this is the lack of awareness among our policy makers who have failed in using the available qualified human resources to full fill the needs of our healthcare system,” observed Sai Kumar.
Dr. Sai Kumar says, Pharm D graduates are well qualified and they can be inducted in the healthcare system of the country wherever necessary and their services can be utilized very well even in rural areas, where there is severe shortage of medical practitioners.