Last Updated on December 31, 2023 by The Health Master
Since the Medical Assistant / Pharmacist Course (MAPC) was the first recognized qualification for the pharmacy practice profession in the erstwhile state of J&K and existed for 50 years.
The Jammu Kashmir Government Pharmacist Association (JKGPA) has urged the government to recognize this course and to make it equal with Diploma in Pharmacy (D Pharma).
The association has decided to take up the issue of the students who have passed the MAPC and of those who are pursuing the same at present in various institutions in the Union Territories of Jammu and Ladakh with the Union government and the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) for recognition.
The PCI can put an end to the continuation of the course after a favourable decision on recognition for the course passed students and those who pursue it currently, says Tufail Bazaz, president of the JKGPA. Bazaz is a senior pharmacist with a pharmaceutical education background under the J&K health services.
He said JKGPA has drafted a long memorandum to the government and to the PCI for their perusal and consideration of the MAPC.
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Sharing information from the memorandum with Pharmabiz, Bazaz said until the union government revoked the special status granted under Article 370 of the constitution to Jammu and Kashmir, MAPC was the only qualification for the pharmacy services in the state both for the public sector and the private sector hospitals.
The MAPC was the backbone of the pharmacy profession in J&K and the institutions were permitted to conduct the course which was an approved one.
Accordingly, they were allowed to register with the state pharmacy council for employment purposes and also to get drug sale licenses from the drugs control department. This was continuing in the state for the last 50 years.
He has clarified one thing that the students who did the course and those pursuing now are innocents. They applied for a course in the recognized institutions for a government approved job-oriented course which was continuing in J&K.
According to him, the administration of the UT governments and the PCI have the moral responsibility to protect the students who have passed the course as they expended a lot of money and time for a job-oriented diploma course.
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