Jamia Hamdard VC: Pharmacy education is in demand, clinical trials key area that needs to be tapped

New Delhi: Mohammad Afshar Alam, vice chancellor of Jamia Hamdard, a deemed-to-be university and leading institution in pharmacy education, during an interview, spoke about the importance of the National Pharmacy Commission Bill, how the sector is going to generate jobs, and the untapped field of clinical trials. With the government’s push of Ayurveda, Alam thinks it can be another area which can provide job opportunities in future. Edited excerpts.

Q. What are your views on the National Pharmacy Commission Bill?

A. With the passing of the bill, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) will be replaced with a commission. The Government of India has decided that all councils will change into commissions. For now, however, PCI is still continuing as our regulatory body. Also, important to mention here, in the councils, members used to be chosen through election, but in the commission there will be direct control of the central government. In councils there is a lot of politics involved but in the commission, the chairman will be selected and so will the other members.

The role of any commission is to ensure that the statutory norms are followed by the institutions. In this bill, the Government of India has emphasised on functioning, qualification and more. Health science is very important and in the absence of an apex body, any private institution can open and offer unlimited seats. But the bill limits the intake at 60 or 120 as per the teacher-student-ratio and infrastructure.

The pharmaceuticals industry is very robust, both in terms of import and export. There is a huge import of medicine. Our generic medicine is very popular worldwide. Now the pharmacy professionals are very much in demand both in the industry or in the hospitals from what it was
10 years ago.

Q. What is the reason behind the increasing number of institutes offering pharmacy courses?

A. It is a matter of demand and supply. In India, mostly after the 80’s, the private partners have come up. There is very little government presence. More recently, the National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research (NIPER) have come up. There are seven, one in each state. But the demand is very high, and a lot of private partners have come up.

Q. What is the quality of these private institutes?

A. Government of India has set a benchmark through National Institutional Ranking and Framework (NIRF). NIRF has five parameters to determine the quality. We are number o ne in pharmaceutical education.

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Q. In 2023, however, your NIRF ranking dropped and Jamia Hamdard was in the second position.

A. The difference was only in the parameter of teaching-learning. We got one point less. The thing is that we are running diploma, undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD programmes. The first position was taken by NIPER Hyderabad and they do not run UG courses. Our consultation is very good and we have a strong industry connection.

In the global ranking, we are not able to come on top because of the lack of foreign faculty. The Government of India allows recruitment but there are challenges to it. However, having said that, Jamia Hamdard is very committed to research and we have funding from several agencies. Along with that we have a lot of industry partners and we are doing a lot of research. Our pharmacists are doing a lot of research in Ayurveda also.

Q. How do you view the growth of pharmacy education in the country, mostly post pandemic?

A. Pharmacy education is very much in demand. A lot of industries are coming up in Delhi NCR for production as well as pharmaceutical research. There is one area which needs to be tapped, which is clinical trials. For clinical trials of medicine, India is a market for the US, Canada and a lot of multinational companies. A lot of pharmacists are working in the areas of clinical trials. Now, we also have a course on clinical trials and it is going like hot cakes. Students completing MSc are getting jobs there.

Similarly in pharmacy, our BPharm and MPharm courses are very much in demand. Earlier, when pharmacy was not there [as a discipline], chemists were working. But now, there is great demand and there are a lot of jobs too. Students who do BPharm and MPharm are in the US, Saudi Arabia.

Q. Do you think pharmacy in Ayurveda is another important area with job prospects?

A. Due to the support of the government, Ayush has huge funding for pharmacy, Unani medicine as well Ayurvedic medicine and other alternative systems of medicine . There is a huge prospect.

Generic medicine also has a very good market for India. We are leading producers of generic medicine. Lot of research is being done in the area.

Q. What is the kind of response to the Diploma in Pharmacy course?

A. This is a requirement for practising in shops and there is good response to it. They are allowed to work as pharmacists in hospitals and clinics.

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Q. How many students take up higher studies after completing UG in pharmacy education?

A. Now, after BPharm, students are opting for pharmaceutical management. We have a MBA in pharmaceutical management and there is good demand for it. Those who have a research bent of mind, they join the PhD programmes.

Q. What is the solution to addressing the issue of fake pharmacists?

A. The PCI has to be more rigorous while registering pharmacists, that is the most important solution. Those who are recruiting must also ensure that they are recruiting from those institutions which are recognised by the government. These are checks and balances which are required.