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The Kerala University of Health Sciences (KUHS) has become a stumbling block to its constituent pharmacy colleges in the state in starting the bridge course, 'Bachelor Degree in Pharmacy Practice’ (B Pharm Practice), launched by the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) in January 2015, meant for D. Pharm holders.
PCI had introduced the two-year evening course with a view to increase the professional skills of the pharmacists and to upgrade their qualification and standard into a common degree level all over the country.
Even though the PCI approved and published through gazette notification in January 2015 its decision to start the bridge course, it is yet to start in Kerala due to the conservative attitude of the Kerala University of Health Sciences, said Dr K G Revikumar, the pharmacy academic expert.
According to the president of Kerala State Pharmacy Council, the efforts taken by the council to get the course started in 2015 and in 2016 have gone waste and its recommendations and suggestions are not entertained by the university despite pressures from pharmacy colleges and expert faculties. He said universities in the neighboring states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu have already given approvals to their affiliated colleges and the first batch will come out at the end of this academic year.
Based on the proposals from state pharmacy councils and academic institutions, the PCI launched the course with emphasize on pharmacy practice and targeting the working pharmacy diploma holders. There was the intention that the course would fill the gap between B Pharm and D Pharm, and also to equate the diploma holders with the B Pharm graduates. PCI wants to stop the diploma course gradually in the country and make graduation as the basic qualification of pharmacy profession.
But, when contacted the vice-chancellor of KUHS, Dr. MKC Nair, the VC said, as per the university rules the course cannot be recognized by the university, hence approval cannot be given to conduct the course. “We will recognize only the full time course and we cannot admit the evening course as a bachelor degree course. There are several graduation courses like B Pharm, B Sc Nursing, etc. They are all full time courses. We will not approve the PCI’s evening course as a degree course”, said the VC.
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