The situation of the pharmacy colleges in Tamil Nadu is hugely improving
and more colleges may come up in the next academic year. No college in
the state is facing any crisis with regard to admission or faculty
problem or infrastructure facilities, according to information received
from the association of private pharmacy colleges in the state.
The
office of the secretary of the private professional colleges
association to which the pharmacy colleges association is affiliated,
informed Pharmabiz that unlike other states, Tamil Nadu is providing
good and quality education in pharmacy, dentistry, nursing and medicine.
So, all the 39 pharmacy colleges in the state are getting sufficient
number of students and the colleges are running the courses in a
full-fledged manner.
A veteran pharmacy teacher and guide, Dr V
Ravichandran, director of the School of Pharmacy at Vels University in
Chennai said there is no unemployed pharmacy graduate anywhere in Tamil
Nadu as the colleges are producing pharmacy graduates as per the
requirement of the state. There are job opportunities for B Pharm and M
Pharm graduates in clinical research organizations, manufacturing
companies, and in the areas of pharmacovigilance and haemovigilance
programmes. The graduates of the speciality oriented course, Pharm D,
will be appointed in multi speciality hospitals with special
responsibility on drugs as the drugs and cosmetics act demands the role
of specialist pharmacists to monitor the action and reactions of
medicines.
He said only one college in Kancheepuram district was
closed down in all these years and it was because of internal feud in
the management.
“In the last five years only five new colleges
were started in the state, whereas in Andhra Pradesh around three
hundred colleges have come up during this period. It is more than the
requirement of the state and it is because of that many unemployed
pharmacy graduates are looking for jobs there. The regulatory bodies
should not give approvals for starting colleges without assessing actual
requirements. Here, in Tamil Nadu there is scope for a few more
colleges. In the last twenty years we have produced graduates as per
true demand”, said Dr Ravichandran, who is also the vice president of
the Indian Pharmaceutical Association.
While commenting on the
private universities conducting the pharmacy courses, he said all the
five deemed universities conducting pharmacy education and awarding
certificates are affiliated to Dr MGR Medical University. Sri
Ramachandra University, Chennai, Vels University, Chennai, SRM
University, Chennai, Vinayaga Mission University, Salem and JSS
University, Ootty are controlling the 39 pharmacy colleges in the state.
Dr Ravichandran is a former syndicate member of Dr MGR Medical
University
