CAREER GUIDE : Courses in pharmacy

Mother Theresa Institute of Health Sciences, Puducherry, offers pharma courses.

The booming pharmaceutical industry along with expanding opportunities has set in motion a demand for pharmacy courses. Apart from enhanced employability, the stream offers plenty of scope for research in this era of patents.
With varied options for specialisation, the pharma industry has in fact opened up new avenues in the last few years. From manufacturing drugs, quality control to marketing, drug inspection and cosmetics, the opportunities in the field seem to be galore.
The Mother Theresa Institute of Health Sciences (MTIHS), a government institution in Puducherry, offers a four-year Bachelor of Pharmacy and two-year Master’s in pharmacy course.
While B. Pharm. deals with different sources of drugs, synthesising drugs, formulations, regulations, pharmacological actions, dosage and toxicology, M. Pharm. has four specialisations — Pharmaceutics, Pharmachemistry, Pharmacology and Pharmacognosy, V. Gopal, principal of College of Pharmacy, MTIHS, said.
The institute has 60 seats for B. Pharm., of which 15 per cent seats are allotted under all- India Quota, and four seats per specialisation in M. Pharm. The Centralised Admission Committee (CENTAC) carries out the admission for the pharmacy courses.
“In the specialisations under M. Pharm., pharmaceutics deals with formulations, pharmachemistry with preparing medicines, pharmacology with the action of medicine on human body, toxicity and dose, while pharmacognosy deals with drugs of natural origin,” Mr. Gopal said.

Opportunities

In fact, the pharmaceutical industry offers plenty of job opportunities. “On completion of the course, the students should register themselves as pharmacists. In manufacturing, those with technical knowledge would be able to manufacture drugs as per the norms. Opportunities are available in quality control, marketing and sales too,” Mr. Gopal said.
The other job opportunities are — drug inspectors to check on spurious and adulterated drugs and pharma analysts in the Food and Drug Administration department.

Research

“They can take up research to find new drugs or new usage for old drugs. Otherwise, they can take up teaching in pharmacy colleges or go for higher education. Cosmetics and neutraceuticals are part of the field,” he said.
“Next to Information Technology, there is a boom in the pharmaceutical industry. In this patent era, many are taking up research too,” he said.
MTIHS has an industry-interaction cell to train the students according to industrial requirements. Exposure to medical transcription, which is also a booming field, is provided for students as part of the co-curricular activities.