There are many unsung heroes who have orchestrated the success story of the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Today, thousands of pharma professionals are working on different projects/positions in this industry. Pharma graduates and post graduates constitute a large proportion of this work force.
However, according to industry experts, outdated pharma curriculum that is being taught across many pharma colleges in India, is badly affecting the careers of pharma students. Indian pharma industry, which is also one of the largest in the world, needs pharma students with more practical knowledge. Unfortunately, the current format of pharma curriculum would make aspiring pharma professionals struggle to meet pharma industry’s expectations.
Salary woes
One of the problems plaguing the entry level Indian pharma industry professionals is their pay package. To the surprise of industry experts, with a few exceptions, pharma professionals have largely been deprived of modest pay packages. But, they also argue that if the pharma student is skilled enough then higher pay package will not be an issue for the job provider.
 “Those with a DPharm degree find opportunities as pharmacists in hospitals or community pharmacies. The salaries offered are mostly lower than what nurses and diploma level engineers earn.”Dr Mukul Pore Director, Intox Laboratories |
There are different job categories in the pharma industry and depending on the job profile, salary package also varies. Dr Mukul Pore, Director, Intox Laboratories, informs, “The average starting salary for a pharmacist is around Rs 4,000, Research Scientists earn Rs 10,000 – 40,000 per month, medical representatives earn around Rs 5,000 – 10,000 per month + incentives, manufacturing pharmacists take home Rs 5,000 upwards, hospital pharmacists get around Rs 3,0.00 – 5,000 per month, government jobs offer Rs 1,500 – 2,500 per month (basic) along with contributory provident fund, daily allowances, insurance, medical reimbursement, and other allowances and benefits as per government rules. Freshers with B Pharm degree are taken as trainees with the average salary of about Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000. After one year of experience professionals can draw higher salaries.”
He adds, “Those with a DPharm degree find opportunities as pharmacists in hospitals or community pharmacies. The salaries offered are mostly lower than what nurses and diploma level engineers earn. Pharmacists who opt to work at chemist stores have been known to be exploited by owners and do not receive adequate pay.”
However, there are some contradictory views as well. Dr N Udupa, Director – Research, Manipal University and Professor, Department of Pharmacy Management, says, “It is a myth that BPharm or MPharm degree holder would get very less salary. To our knowledge the package (initial package) is decent and varies according to job description. It may be less in production and research when compared to marketing. And there is an option of becoming an entrepreneur where sky is the limit.”
Skill and experience will earn you the money. Initial salary package may be less but as the pharma professional piles on experience his salary package also swells.
“You may not get a job of your choice, place of your choice, company of your choice, but you will get a job as per your knowledge, skill and attitude to work at ground level,” opines Dr Mahesh Burande, Principal, CAYMET’s Siddhant College of Pharmacy, Sudumbare, Pune. and President, Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI).
 “A good performer, in a time span of five to 10 years, can withdraw a salary of Rs 5 to 10 lakhs per month with all facilities.” Dr Mahesh Burande Principal, CAYMET’s Siddhant College of Pharmacy, Sudumbare, Pune. and President, Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI) |
He adds, “In the pharmacy industry today, the starting salary may range from Rs 8000 to Rs 25000, depending upon companies’ strength and students’ professional skills. But once you start performing, you can add many zeros to your salary. A good performer, in a time span of five to 10 years, can withdraw a salary of Rs 5 to 10 lakhs per month with all facilities. Initially, students should not look for salary but aim to get into the pharmacy profession, develop professional skills and think of performance.”
Burande asserts that performance is the only criteria in this world to achieve every dream and we should not compare ourself with other professionals. Comparison will always make us unhappy and we are in the business of making people healthy and happy by producing quality medicine and taking quality care, he states.
Outdated curriculum
Colleges are perhaps the first halt where a student starts getting himself familiar with the pharma industry. However, pharma curriculum in India has very often been criticised for not keeping pace with the changing pharma scenario.
 “Faculty in most Indian universities and institutes are bogged down by teaching loads and the research component is consequently limited.” K V Subramaniam President & Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Life Sciences |
“Faculty in most Indian universities and institutes are bogged down by teaching loads and the research component is consequently limited. In interviews conducted by my colleagues and I, we find that conceptual learning is lacking and the orientation seems to be enrolling in a course to pass examinations, get a degree and an employment. Very rarely do you come across students genuinely interested in research and have a passion. There is an imperative to revamp the existing curriculae to make it industry-oriented, include action learning-based aspects and learning at a conceptual level,” says, KV Subramaniam, President and Chief Executive Officer, Reliance Life Sciences.
This is the reason Reliance Life Sciences started the Reliance Institute of Life Sciences (RILS), a not-for-profit organisation, in 2006, to focus on competency development through one-year Young Professionals Programs and Advanced Diploma Programs in biotherapeutics, biopharmaceuticals manufacture, clinical research, quality management and marketing.
Pore says, “The number of pharmacy graduates, post graduates in the country is growing. Although there is a quantitative growth, there is very little qualitative growth.”
He adds, “The fresh graduates have theoretical knowledge but are limited in exposure on the practical side due to very limited or virtually none hands-on lab experience. The lack of qualitative toxicology training opportunities is hurting the industry. Industry lack people able to design, carry out, and analyse in vivo experiments, and then build models to extrapolate data across species and into man. Therefore, the graduates will need both sound theoretical grounding in concepts and guidance in applying these in practice from experienced industry experts.”
Though outdated curriculum is a worry for the pharma industry there are exceptions as well. Some of the pharma colleges do keep themselves abreast with latest requirements of the pharma industry and update their curriculum accordingly.
 “Curriculum of a few pharmacy colleges is dynamic and suits the industry needs whereas a few pharmacy colleges do follow the outdated and obsolete curriculum.”Sreedhar D Asso. Professor & Head , Department of Pharmacy Management, MCOPS, Manipal |
“Curriculum of a few pharmacy colleges is dynamic and suits the industry needs whereas a few pharmacy colleges do follow the outdated and obsolete curriculum. It depends on the colleges and the regulatory body to prescribe the curriculum and also revise at least four years once for B Pharm and every two years for M Pharm. There should be inputs from pharma industry while designing/revising the curriculum. Apart from course work there should be inclusion of mini research projects and extra and co-curricular activities in the curriculum,” says Sreedhar D, Associate Professor and Head , Department of Pharmacy Management, MCOPS, Manipal
Pore warns that we are much behind of our Western counterparts as far as pharma curriculum is concerned. He also feels that our curriculum should be of international standards. “In order to demonstrate the requirements for pharmacists in India, it is necessary to undertake a pharmacy workforce study, to review pharmacy education programmes, and to compare them with the roles that have been accepted internationally. Pharmacy curriculum should be updated because we are much behind the Western countries in terms of research work that is carried out over there.”
 “Pharmacognosy, community pharmacy, pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmaceutical jurisprudence have no use in practice.”Bhupendra Kumar Secretary General, Indian Pharmacist Association (IPA) |
“What is taught in the class room is never used in practice. A pharmacist is taught subjects like pharmacology, pharmacognosy, pharmaceutical jurisprudence, pharmaceutical chemistry, anatomy and physiology, pharmaceutics. Pharmacognosy, community pharmacy, pharmaceutical chemistry and pharmaceutical jurisprudence have no use in practice while other subjects have their own limitations,” opines Bhupendra Kumar, Secretary General, Indian Pharmacist Association (IPA).
Kumar feels that besides restructuring topics that are being currently taught in pharma colleges introduction of new subjects is also equally important.
Expectations from pharma institutes
 “It is a myth that BPharm or MPharm degree holder would get very less salary. To our knowledge the package (initial package) is decent and varies according to job description.” Dr N Udupa Director – Research, Manipal University and Professor, Department of Pharmacy Management |
As the pharma institutes are one of the sources from where the pharma industry would hire skilled professionals from, it is the prerogative of such institutes to nurture talents in such a way that it would stand to job giver’s expectations.
Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI) is actively working towards making pharma institutes change the ways they conduct or frame their courses. Burande gives details about initiatives taken by APTI in this regard. He informs, “APTI has made a Academy – Industry Interaction cell and this cell will interact with industry continuously and discuss various new subjects, topics, practical skills required in pharmacy students before they pass out to take responsibilities.”
Subramaniam once again highlights the issues raised by many industry players. Giving industry perspective of this discussion, he says, “Educational institutions would need to re-orient towards industry-oriented courses. This would make them fairly employable after graduation.” Subramaniam expects changes not just at the levels of colleges, according to him, even universities have to take initiatives to make things more industry friendly.
“Universities can also make efforts to develop programmes aimed at developing students with specific competencies for the industry, such as manufacturing, validation, quality management and marketing. Here, both academia and industry can work together on developing specific programmes to address the talent/competency requirements of industry,” feels Subramaniam.
Subramaniam insists that improvement is not only meant for the institutes. Students should also contribute in their own ways. Apart from the educational material available in the colleges there are so many information sources available through different channels that would help them know more about the industry. He explains, “Students, on their part, would need to look beyond their curriculum as well as develop a clear understanding of fundamental concepts. They would have to inculcate a habit of regular reading of scientific journals, periodicals and books in the domain, which sadly is lacking. Practical experiments included in the university curriculum are important and students would do well to get as much hands-on experience as possible, along with internships in industry.”
Along with the infrastructure and quality of the education students also look for job assistance that these colleges would offer. Colleges with good placement provisions do attract large number of students.
According to Burande, first of all pharma institutes should have a well-structured and functioning placement cell with a placement officer and a clerk. “It is very essential for any pharmacy institute as students would look at first placement while taking admission to any institute. Placement officer should dedicate most of his working hours for the placements. He should be allowed to go around the companies advertising about the institute and bring in changes in the curriculum according to the needs of the industry. He should conduct training programmes for the outgoing students and make students employable. And he should negotiate a good package for students,” says Burande.
According to Kumar, pharmacists are completely neglected in pharma industry. BPharm degree holder finds it difficult to enter into the R & D space of a pharma company. Modernisation of pharma curriculum will definitely address the issues highlighted by Kumar.
Forging the future path
Till a few years ago pharma colleges were mainly seen in big metros. However, now this trend is slowly moving towards small metros as well. Many pharma colleges have been opened in remote parts of India from where a significant chunk of degree holders is passing out. But, these colleges might have their own limitations. Getting experienced faculties will be an issue. Lack of money leads to unavailability of good infrastructure and also the equipment which are necessary to have industry-oriented practical experience. As already said by industry experts in this article, co-operation among educational institutes, pharma industry and government would help to overcome these limitations. However, very few have paid heed to this call for co-operation over the years. Unless somebody takes a decisive stand these issues would continue to prevail.
- Advertisement -
