PHARMACY

So many things (some little, some not so little!) have to be kept in mind when we talk about drug treatment - the complex drug therapy, its potential side effects, dangers of drug abuse etc.. .The common man is vulnerable without a pharmacists’ special skill.
Developing new drugs, ensuring quality and improving the nature of existing drugs... a pharmacist does all this and more!!

If you have passed Class 12 with Physics, Chemistry and Biology/Maths, you can take up the B.Pharma course. Wanna hear some real big names that provide this course? Here goes - BITS-Pilani, BHU, BITS-Ranchi, and L M College of Pharmacy - Ahmedabad (impressed?).

Most states hold a selection test for the Bachelor of Pharmacy (B.Pharma.) course along with the medical entrance examinations. You will be selected by autonomous or deemed university colleges on the basis of merit in the entrance exam or on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying Board Exams (make sure you score well!).
Notifications sent out - Jan / Feb.
Exam / Selection - May / June.

Once you become a qualified pharmacist - 4 main areas of work will await you. You could be working as hospital pharmacists, retail pharmacists, industrial pharmacists or research pharmacists.

You will never find a hospital, nursing home or a health centre without a pharmacist in charge of stocking, preparing and dispensing medicines, drugs and other medical accessories. Developing countries see pharmacists meeting patients, doctors and nurses to discuss the supply of medicines and the appropriate form of drugs for administration. And this is not all - stock control, storage, placing orders, labelling, financial budgeting and account keeping for the stocks, are some of the other responsibilities of a hospital pharmacist.

So many drugs, so many complexities and side effects, and hence the increasing need for retail pharmacists. These pharmacists dispense drugs on prescription. But that’s not all - the customers expect over the counter advice for which the pharmacists have to be educated (sorry - no shortcuts this time!). Being good business managers is a part of the deal too. If you choose to be a medical representative, you will be in charge of a particular area under your parent company - introducing new products to the doctors and giving them all the necessary information regarding the drugs.

Industrial pharmacists come in when certain industries are involved in the production of drugs and their testing for safety and effectiveness. Then there is the R&D department, seeing to the development of the new formulations. Besides this, marketing, sales and quality control are also the jobs of the industrial pharmacist. Trainees are taken from the pharmaceutical background who are graduates/post graduates and doctorates.

This is one area with tremendous scope - R&D for research and marketing in the medical field is increasing, for which many businessmen, who were only into manufacturing of drugs, have directed efforts into basic research (following the money!). This field requires students of biochemistry, chemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology, pharmacology etc.. Fresh post graduates and PHDs can try their luck too. 

The various levels at which you study Pharmacy, determines the kind of job you are entitled to get:
Diploma of 2 years - Jobs as technicians.
Degree of 4 years - Retail and Hospital jobs.
Postgraduate of 2 years - Research, Production, Quality Control, and Management positions.

Let’s say you’ve graduated in Pharmacy and aspire to become a research scientist and think it is impossible!! Well, didn’t you hear - ‘anything is possible’? All you need to do is study some more (I didn’t say it was going to be easy!!). Do a post graduate study in Biotechnology and your path is set!

Those who wish to take Pharmacy up as a career must keep certain things in mind. You will reach nowhere without an interest in medicine and a scientific state of mind (if not yourself, think about the helpless patients - totally dependent on you!). If you are a pharmacist in research and industry, your academic potential is bound to matter. You will have to be accurate and methodical if you work in hospitals, stores, labs and shop floors. It goes without saying (I hope!) that you need to be sympathetic and caring with a friendly attitude when you deal with patients.
If you wish to get into marketing and production units, you had better possess excellent communication skills ( how else do you expect to sell?). The retail sector will require you to have additional skills in merchandising, selling and financial management. If you choose to be a medical representative, you’ll have to be ready for a strenuous outdoor job - meeting different people and visiting places. Research pharmacists on the other hand, work in state of the art labs.

Did someone say there weren’t enough prospects for pharmacy degree holders? Wait till you hear all of this - the export market is offering Indian drug manufacturers their best prospects for rapid expansion and better margins. Besides this, you have to be open for any kind of challenge in this field.

A graduate pharmacist will be recognised as an approved chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, in the manufacturing, analysis and R&D divisions. Once you are registered, job opportunities will open up - in health centres, hospitals and medicine dispensing stores. This is not all - you could also be employed as drug inspectors, analytical chemists, and executives in pharmaceutical sales divisions and in the Ministry of Supplies.  

Last but not the least - your remuneration will vary from one organisation to another. However, government assignments offer Class I pay scales along with the usual allowances, perquisites and benefits. What this field requires is hardworking, trained and above all conscious men and women who realize how important it is to provide proper medical facilities to individual men and society.

After all healthy people make up a healthy society!!