KOTTAYAM: In a major relief to MPharm degree holders, the Union government has decided to include MPharm (pharmacy practice) as a sufficient qualification for appointing clinical pharmacists to hospitals. The government clarified its stance in the High Court in response to a batch of writ petitions filed by various MPharm degree holders.
Justice Viju Abraham, who considered the petitions, directed the government to implement the decision within three months. Earlier, the government had excluded MPharm as the eligible qualification for serving as clinical pharmacists in hospitals through an amendment brought to the Pharmacy Practice Regulations Act in 2019. Through this amendment, the government made doctor of pharmacy (Pharm D) the qualification for the post.
Following this, MPharm pharmacy practice graduates, who have been serving as clinical pharmacists for over two decades in various hospitals, came out against the decision and approached the High Court. The deputy solicitor general told the court that the government received several representations from all over the country requesting to include MPharm (pharmacy practice) as an eligible qualification for the post of a clinical pharmacist.
“The matter was reviewed by the Pharmacy Council of India and placed in the 357th executive committee held in January 2022 of the council. The meeting decided to include MPharm (pharmacy practice) as eligible qualification for the post,” the solicitor general told the court. Accordingly, the Pharmacy Council issued a letter on February 1, 2022, to state governments and UTs seeking comments on the matter. Though the deadline for going through such comments was fixed as May 2, 2022, the matter is under consideration of the government for issuing necessary gazette notification in this regard, the solicitor general added.
While disposing of the petitions, the court directed the Centre and the Pharmacy Council “to implement the decision at the earliest, at any rate within an outer time limit of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of the judgment.”
MPharm pharmacy practice was introduced in the country in 1996 as a two-year postgraduate speciality course after the four-year BPharm graduate course. Since then, these postgraduates have been practising clinical pharmacy. When Pharm D was introduced in 2008 as a six-year course, those graduates too became eligible to practise. The amendment to reserve posts of clinical pharmacists exclusively for Pharm D graduates had put MPharm pharmacy practice graduates in the lurch.