Can the country’s pharmacist community ever get the recognition that it deserves?

Will the pharmacist community in the country ever get the recognition they deserve? That is the question that haunts lakhs of pharmacists in the country who have been providing yeoman service to the people of the country, especially during and after Covid-19. It is true that they have not yet received the kind of status and respectability they deserve. Even though the pharmaceutical industry in India has witnessed phenomenal growth over the last four decades, the pharmacist continues to be a salesman in a retail pharmacy. They are mostly seen by the people as ones dispensing medicines prescribed by the doctors. But, the fact is that there is a paradigm shift in the duties of a pharmacist in the entire world and India is no exception.

Braving all the risks associated with the highly infectious Covid-19, the pharmacist community provided services 24x7 to patients, the likes of which are unparalleled in Indian medical history.

In the international level, the duty of a pharmacist is fast evolving from a mere dispenser of medicines in a retail medical store. Checking drug dosage, drug-drug interactions, drug-allergy interactions, drug food interactions, patient counselling, etc, are all now becoming part and parcel of a pharmacist's job. Pharmacists of today are expected to interact with patients, doctors and nurses in a collaborative model as is the case with the developed countries.

The focus of pharmacy practice in developed countries has shifted from product-centric to patient-centric with the implementation of modified pharmacy practice regulations favouring patient safety.

But in India, it is a fact that a significant number of retail stores are being operated by non-pharmacists who rent pharmacy diplomas and degrees from graduates in this discipline.

As per the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, retail stores cannot dispense drugs in the absence of a registered pharmacist. It is highly unethical for a registered pharmacist to lend his or her registration to any other person. He/she can function only at one place at a time. But non-pharmacists continue to operate medical shops with rented certificates of pharmacists. This should change as the focus of pharmacy practice in India too is gradually shifting to patient-centric.

In countries like US, UK, Canada, New Zealand, Portugal, Ireland and even Ethiopia, clinical pharmacists are an integral part of the healthcare system and work along with physicians and nurses. The focus of pharmacy practice in developed countries has shifted with the implementation of modified pharmacy practice regulations favouring patient safety. But in India, the situation is entirely different as pharmacy professionals are yet to get the kind of respect they actually command.

But, there is hope for change as the president of the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) Dr Montu Patel has recently called upon the pharmacist community in the country to take up patient counseling too as part of their job. Without mincing words, Dr Patel regretted that the recognition of professional capability of a pharmacist is found lacking in India unlike in developed countries, where the physicians and patients acknowledge the pharmacists expertise on medicines.

With their detailed knowledge of medicine, pharmacists have the ability to relate unexpected symptoms experienced by patients to possible adverse drug reaction and food-drug interaction. As the pharmacists are the only professionals in the healthcare milieu with this expertise, Dr Patel tried to drive home the point that it will provide the pharmacist community another opportunity for remuneration also. Pharmacy curriculum focuses on carbohydrates, amino acids and fatty acids, which are the key macro nutrients present in the body. They can best be understood by a pharmacist. That the PCI is working on it seriously is clear from the statement of Dr Patel who said that to ensure pharmacists are compensated monetarily for patient counseling, the PCI is proposing to the Union government to approve a professional fee format.

The PCI’s plan is to focus on patients who suffer from chronic conditions and could encounter food-drug interactions which are widely prevalent. Also just like the qualified doctor’s signature, pharmacists too need to certify patient counseling among other services rendered in patient care. This could be among key efforts from PCI to garner professional recognition for pharmacists.

It is true that the government has come up with the right kind of regulation, but it has not taken steps to implement it in letter and spirit. The Pharmacy Practice Regulations, 2015 is a case in point. As things are changing fast, the government should not be found wanting in providing the much-needed respectability the pharmacist community craves for.

(The author is freelance

journalist with varied experience in different fields)