After the Pharmacy Council of India, Private pharmacy colleges management association has raised banner against the dual regulation system existing for the approval of pharmacy colleges.
Presently, private pharmacy colleges are regulated by both the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and this causes a great deal of confusion in getting the approval.
It is said that there is no coordination between these two agencies and on several occasions, both the Councils work at cross purposes .
The PCI had taken up the issue with the union health ministry and had asked the ministry to bring in an Amendment to the Pharmacy Act to put an end to the dual regulation in pharmacy education. The matter is pending with the ministry. When there is specific body for other profession like Medicine, Dental, Nursing, Chartered Accountancy etc, I think regulation of pharmacy education and colleges should solely lie under the Pharmacy Council of India.
This issue is expected to be raised in the parilament and the main tussle is going to be between the Union Human Resources Development (HRD) Ministry and the Health Ministry. While the HRD Ministry is in favour retaining the regulatory powers with its arm (AICTE), the Health Ministry is learnt to be pushing for transferring the regulatory powers of pharmacy education from AICTE to PCI which is a statutory body exclusively constituted for the pharmacy education in the country.
