The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) on Monday finally granted approval to 14 additional colleges in the state to conduct the six-year course in doctor of pharmacy (Pharma.D). Of the 55 colleges which had applied for approval and renewal, only 42 were allowed to proceed with the enrolments.
The notification for counselling for Pharma.D courses based on the EAMCET ranks is likely be issued in the first week of October. Only colleges conducting regular B.Pharma classes under section 12 of the PCI will be eligible to run the Pharma.D programme.
‘’We have not received the notification from PCI yet. The GOs may be issued in a week and a special counselling will be conducted for admission into the Pharma.D courses,” said EAMCET camp officer Dr K Raghunath Rao.
Following the uniform fee structure being implemented this year, the course fee has been fixed at Rs 68,000 per annum for both category A and B seats. The enrolments in each of the colleges are fixed at 60 each year, and around 1,680 seats are kept on offer.
Apart from the Pharma.D course, the admissions into the four-year B. Pharma course have been positive this year. “The demand for pharmacy courses among BPC students has been higher this year, and the seats in B.Pharma course for BPC stream have already been filled in the first phase of counselling. The regulation on the number of seats in AP and the directions to the state government to regulate the intake at a maximum of 100 students for colleges older than four years has put pharma education back on track,” observed Dr K Ramadas, general secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Pharmacy College Management Association (APPCMA).
The PCI had blacklisted 37 colleges from AP earlier this year for giving excess admissions in violation of the prescribed guidelines. The regulated intake is likely to result in fewer vacancies this year. Of the 100 seats in established colleges, 35 are reserved for students from BPC stream, 35 for MPC and 30 seats fall under the management quota or category B. The total number of colleges offering the course is 286. “The MPC students usually do not prefer the pharmacy courses, and a maximum of 5 percent admissions may be done in the second phase. The seats reserved for engineering students will also be rolled back for BPC students to fill the seats,” said the general secretary of APPCMA. Only 276 BPC seats of the total 8324 remained unfilled at the conclusion of the first phase of admissions.