M Pharm course comatose? No faculty to match stiff rule

HYDERABAD: Colleges offering M Pharm in the state may soon have no option but to scrap the course. This, as there are hardly any candidates with a specialization in pharmacognosy to be recruited as faculty .
The Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) has made it mandatory for colleges running M Pharm courses to have three faculty members with such a specialization. Pharmacognosy is the branch of knowledge concerned with medicinal drugs obtained from plants or other natural sources.
Colleges say the rule is difficult to be implemented.“There are only two universities in the state -Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University, Hyderabad, (JNTUH) with 15 seats and Kakatiya University (KU) with six seats -that provide pharmacognosy courses. A majority of these students get inducted into pharmaceutical companies. There are hardly any pharmacognosy staff to be recruited in colleges,“ said Dr K Ramadas, president of Telangana Pharmacy Colleges Managements Association. “If we have to strictly follow the rule, a majority of colleges will not get affiliation,“ he added.
The association is now demanding relaxation in rules on recruitment, teacher-student ratio, lab equipment and clarification on whether a principal can double up as a teacher. “We met the members of PCI in Mysore and requested them to clarify some points and provide relaxation in rules so that colleges won't face problems in getting affiliation for the 2017-18 academic year,“ Dr Ramadas said. A reply is expected by January 25.
Members of PCI say the rules are being misinterpreted at the university level. “Our regulations are being twisted. When we say we need one faculty for every 15 students, it does not mean for every stream such as B Pharm, Pharm D and M Pharm. The faculty can be shared among the branches. The same applies to equipment too.Also, the colleges need not have everything in place in 2017 itself but can ready it in the four years before the course ends,“ PCI member T V Narayana said.
Promising to look into the issues, he added: “We are mulling giving an option to have either pharmaceutical chemistry or biotechnology staff instead of pharmacognosy , but no relaxation will be provided as far as teacher-student ratio and lab equipment are concerned. As the universities are enforcing our regulations, colleges have requested us to provide clarification in writing.“
JNTU-H, meanwhile, said they are only implementing the PCI and AICTE rules. “We go as per suggestions by the Board of Studies and ensure that colleges follow PCI and AICTE guidelines. The colleges can't expect to clear the affiliation process without maintaining bare minimum requirements,“ university registrar N Yadaiah said.