Pharmacy council to hold meets

PATIALA, Feb 15: The Pharmacy Council of India PCI has decided to organise 50 workshops and refresher courses for the benefit of hospital and community pharmacists all over the country.

Stating this at a press conference here today, Dr. C.K. Kokate, president of the PCI, said this was being done from April 1 in celebration of the golden jubilee of the PCI. Zonal celebrations were planned to be held in all the state capitals. Besides publication of the history of the PCI, it had also been decided to organise quot;pharmacy yatras8221; involving pharmacists from different sectors, students and the press, highlighting the role of pharmacists, health care requirements, dangers of self-medication and common drug reactions.

Kokate made a strong plea for effective implementation of Section 42 of the Pharmacy Act of 1948, which provides that drug stores are allowed to be run only by qualified pharmacists.

The pharmacy council chief earlier visited the Punjab University Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Drug Research and delivered three lectures on herbal drugs and role of PCI in providing better health care in the coming century.

Dr Manjeet Singh, head of the department, emphasised on the need to improve the qualification of community pharmacists from diplomas to degrees, in order to provide better use of modern drugs.