Traditional Medicine

Traditional medicine encompasses holistic health practices, skills, knowledge, and beliefs from different cultures, using nature-based remedies like herbs, spiritual therapies, and manual techniques to maintain health or treat illnesses, often passed down generations. Key systems include Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Unani, focusing on restoring balance in mind, body, and environment, with many people in developing nations relying on it for primary care. The World Health Organization supports its safe integration with modern medicine through research and policy

.

 

Key Characteristics

• Holistic Approach: Views health as balance between mind, body, spirit, and environment, not just absence of disease.
• Nature-Based: Relies heavily on plants (herbal medicine), minerals, and animal products.
• Cultural Roots: Deeply embedded in specific cultural histories, passed down through generations.
• Diverse Practices: Includes acupuncture, yoga, meditation, herbal remedies, dietary changes, and spiritual healing. 

Examples of Systems

• Ayurveda (India): Balances the body's three doshas (Vata, Pitta, Kapha) using herbs, diet, and lifestyle.
• Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM): Uses herbs, acupuncture, and techniques to balance qi (energy).
• Unani (Middle East/India): Based on balancing four humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, black bile). 

Modern Context & Integration

• Complementary & Alternative Medicine (CAM): When used alongside or instead of mainstream medicine, it's often called CAM.
• Integration: Efforts, led by the WHO, aim to integrate evidence-based traditional practices with modern medicine for comprehensive care.
• Research: Growing research explores the safety and effectiveness of traditional remedies, like herbs for pain, circulation, and immune support. 

#Pharmacist - Kaha ka? - Neither for Industry nor for Healthcare, but for Pharmacare

#Pharmacist - Kaha ka?

    - Neither for Industry nor for Healthcare, but for Pharmacare

Pharmacists in India face a stark reality: 

There is no exclusivity for them in pharmaceutical industry, R&D, or marketing. Except Diploma Pharmacists graduates and even Clinical Pharmacists with PharmD have no slots to serve in Healthcare

Then, what for these courses are conducted to ruin the life of young aspiring Pharmacists?

 With thousands of colleges producing an overwhelming number of graduates each year, industry is not a viable source of employment.

Shockingly, the IPC which is a conglomeration of IPA, IGPA, APTI, IHPA and PCI has never considered this issue to evolve a solution, inspite of repeatedly voicing the need. 

Irony is IPC wants huge number of Pharmacists from various streams to attend and participate in various activities! but seldom addresses their issues since 1968.

Adding to this crisis are restrictions in our very laws:

Drugs & Cosmetics Act, 1940 does not grant pharmacists exclusive rights in manufacturing, R&D, or marketing; wholesale drug licenses can go to non-pharmacists; even in retail, ownership lies with anyone, with pharmacists reduced to mere signatories. Clinical roles such as counseling or therapy monitoring are not mandated at all.

Pharmacy Act, 1948 is confined largely to registration. Unlike doctors or nurses, pharmacists have no statutory role in patient care. Dispensing is mandatory only on paper—weak enforcement allows rampant proxy practice. Education provisions remain outdated, failing to orient graduates to healthcare needs.

This legal framework leaves them in “Na ghar ka, na ghat ka”—neither industry-recognized nor healthcare-anchored. Yet authorities, academicians, and faculty remain indifferent, even as NAAC delists pharmacy from Health Sciences.

The way forward lies in restructuring. We need intellectually smart teachers to shape smart pharmacists. 

Healthcare is the only sector with infinite potential to absorb all category of Pharmacists —from dispensing to logistics to clinical pharmacy which all together is PharmaCare support to healthCare.

Every hospital unit requires at least one clinical pharmacist and one or two chief pharmacists, besides diploma pharmacists. To make this a reality, pharmacy must be firmly recognized as a Health Science, with education restructured to produce competent professionals.

Since PCI has taken up the task of Updating the B. Pharm Curriculum it should seriously consider to incorporate all activities required to support HealthCare under PharmaCare.

Further, the Profession needs a Supportive laws. Hence, a separate law "#PharmacyPracticeRegulationAct should be legislated that empowers  the Pharmacist with due Accountability. This will eradicate the menace of Certificate renting, Absentee Pharmacist, Corruption arising out of this violation. 

#PCI

#APTI

#IPA

#IPC2025

#Pharmacist 

#Industry 

#Healthcare

POV: Bhagwan PS

Pharmacy Practice is increasingly labelled as “illegal,” but this argument reflects a policy vacuum rather than a professional failure.

#TalkingIsLegal

     - Not Practicing..!

Pharmacy Practice is increasingly labelled as “illegal,” but this argument reflects a policy vacuum rather than a professional failure.

 The real issue is not the teaching of Pharmacy Practice or PharmaCare, but the absence of a comprehensive legal framework that clearly defines and integrates the pharmacist’s patient-care role within India’s healthcare system.

Healthcare today is medicine-intensive. Polypharmacy, chronic diseases, ageing populations, and medication-related harm are now routine. 

Regulating medicines as products alone is no longer sufficient. Modern healthcare requires PharmaCare-oriented professional practice, where pharmacists are trained and accountable for medication safety, therapy monitoring, patient counselling, continuity of care, and systems-based interventions that directly influence outcomes.

Insisting that the law must evolve before professional capacity is built reverses the natural order of health-system development. 

Across health professions, education has always anticipated emerging roles long before statutes formally recognised them.

Pharmacy Practice and PharmaCare education preparing pharmacists for structured patient-care responsibilities is therefore is legitimate and is necessary and forward-looking.

The confusion arises from India’s fragmented legal framework. The pharmacist’s role is scattered across the Pharmacy Act and the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, with no single statute clearly defining pharmacists as accountable patient-care professionals or formal providers of PharmaCare service within the healthcare team. 

This legal silence enables misinterpretation, under-utilisation of trained pharmacists, and the mistaken branding of structured professional education as “unauthorised practice.”

What India urgently needs is a comprehensive Pharmacy Practice Act that formally recognises and regulates PharmaCare, clearly defining scope, responsibility, accountability, and collaborative boundaries. 

Such legislation would align education with practice, strengthen patient safety, reduce medication-related harm, and integrate pharmacists meaningfully into healthcare delivery.

Suppressing Pharmacy Practice and PharmaCare education will not improve safety; it will only widen the gap between healthcare needs and system capacity. 

The real policy question is not why these competencies are being taught, but why regulation has not  yet been put in place to keep  pace with the realities of modern healthcare.?

#PharmacyPractice 

#PharmaCare #PharmacyPracticeAct

#PatientSafety #MedicationSafety

#HealthcarePolicy #HealthPolicyIndia

#PharmacyEducation #ClinicalPharmacy

#AIPDA

#APTI

#PharmacistsInHealthcare

#PCI #NMC #CDSCO #DTAB #MinistryOfHealth

Pov: Bhagwan PS

#Can Pharmacy Practice Be A Reality In India?

#CanPharmacyPracticeBeARealityInIndia?

Let’s be honest about Pharmacy Practice in India.

🤔 Pharmacy Practice Regulations (PPR) 2015–25 are repeatedly cited as proof that pharmacy practice is legally recognized in India. 

❌In reality, that claim does not stand up to scrutiny. PPR 2015–25 were framed by the Pharmacy Council of India under the Pharmacy Act, 1948 to hoodwink PharmD students and Graduates.

☑️But the Pharmacy Act primarily governs education and registration. 

❌It does not confer enforceable patient-care authority, nor does it empower PCI to regulate clinical practice on the ground. 

❌Calling PPR a “regulation” does not automatically make it enforceable.

☑️On the field, real power lies with State Drug Control Departments under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. 

☑️Licensing, inspections, prosecutions, and control over dispensing are all under FDA jurisdiction. 

❌PPR provisions are not embedded in State Drug Rules, and therefore remain legally optional.

❌FDAs are not bound to enforce what the law does not mandate.

☑️That is why pharmacy practice in India exists only in pockets. 

☑️A few hospitals run clinical pharmacy services because administrators allow it not the system.

☑️A few pharmacists counsel patients because they personally believe in it.

❌This is not system-driven practice;

 It is goodwill-driven survival.

☑️ The uncomfortable truth is this: 

• PPR 2015–25 is not legally tenable as an enforcement instrument. 

• It creates expectations without authority and 

(Like Alcohol, It creates desire but takes away performance..)

• It assigns responsibility without power. 

Worse,

• It gives the illusion of progress while shielding regulators from accountability for not securing supportive legislation.

👉 If pharmacy practice is truly the goal, then guidelines are not enough. 

👉 The profession needs statutory backing—A comprehensive

 "The Indian Pharmacy Practice Regulation Act".

👉 Fresh Rules have to be framed after the Act is put in place.

❌ Without that, PPR remains a document of intent, not law.

😢 Continuing to celebrate PPR while ignoring its legal weakness is intellectual dishonesty. (Bankruptcy) 

📢Pharmacy practice will not be built on aspirations, circulars, or seminars, Webinars of so called Resource Persons. 

👉It will be built only when law, administration, and accountability are aligned.

Till then, let’s stop pretending.🫢

#PCI, #PPR15-25,

#MinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare 

#AIPDA 

#PharmD 

#APTI

POV: Bhagwan PS

Pharmacy Practice is increasingly labelled as “illegal,” but this argument reflects a policy vacuum rather than a professional failure.

#TalkingIsLegal

     - Not Practicing..!

Pharmacy Practice is increasingly labelled as “illegal,” but this argument reflects a policy vacuum rather than a professional failure.

 The real issue is not the teaching of Pharmacy Practice or PharmaCare, but the absence of a comprehensive legal framework that clearly defines and integrates the pharmacist’s patient-care role within India’s healthcare system.

Healthcare today is medicine-intensive. Polypharmacy, chronic diseases, ageing populations, and medication-related harm are now routine. 

Regulating medicines as products alone is no longer sufficient. Modern healthcare requires PharmaCare-oriented professional practice, where pharmacists are trained and accountable for medication safety, therapy monitoring, patient counselling, continuity of care, and systems-based interventions that directly influence outcomes.

Insisting that the law must evolve before professional capacity is built reverses the natural order of health-system development. 

Across health professions, education has always anticipated emerging roles long before statutes formally recognised them.

Pharmacy Practice and PharmaCare education preparing pharmacists for structured patient-care responsibilities is therefore is legitimate and is necessary and forward-looking.

The confusion arises from India’s fragmented legal framework. The pharmacist’s role is scattered across the Pharmacy Act and the Drugs & Cosmetics Act, with no single statute clearly defining pharmacists as accountable patient-care professionals or formal providers of PharmaCare service within the healthcare team. 

This legal silence enables misinterpretation, under-utilisation of trained pharmacists, and the mistaken branding of structured professional education as “unauthorised practice.”

What India urgently needs is a comprehensive Pharmacy Practice Act that formally recognises and regulates PharmaCare, clearly defining scope, responsibility, accountability, and collaborative boundaries. 

Such legislation would align education with practice, strengthen patient safety, reduce medication-related harm, and integrate pharmacists meaningfully into healthcare delivery.

Suppressing Pharmacy Practice and PharmaCare education will not improve safety; it will only widen the gap between healthcare needs and system capacity. 

The real policy question is not why these competencies are being taught, but why regulation has not  yet been put in place to keep  pace with the realities of modern healthcare.?

#PharmacyPractice 

#PharmaCare #PharmacyPracticeAct

#PatientSafety #MedicationSafety

#HealthcarePolicy #HealthPolicyIndia

#PharmacyEducation #ClinicalPharmacy

#AIPDA

#APTI

#PharmacistsInHealthcare

#PCI #NMC #CDSCO #DTAB #MinistryOfHealth

Pov: Bhagwan PS

10 CORE QUESTIONS TO PHARMACY LEADERS & REGULATORS (1948–2025)- Bhagwan PS

10 CORE QUESTIONS TO PHARMACY LEADERS & REGULATORS (1948–2025)

1. Why has the Pharmacy Act, 1948 failed to legally define, protect, and enforce Pharmacy Practice, leaving pharmacists without statutory professional authority even after 75+ years?

2. How and why did pharmacy regulation become academically dominated, excluding practicing pharmacists, healthcare administrators, and industry professionals, and what damage did this regulatory capture cause?

3. On what rationale were thousands of pharmacy colleges approved without ensuring employability, practice roles, or healthcare integration for graduates?

4. Why were chronic inspection malpractices (ghost faculty, fake infrastructure, borrowed facilities) tolerated or normalized, and who is accountable for this systemic fraud?

5. Why has no regulator or professional body been held personally or institutionally accountable for repeated failures in education quality, professional outcomes, and patient safety?

6. Why were clinical pharmacy, PharmD, and advanced programs introduced without corresponding legal authority to practice, thereby misleading students and families?

7. Why has pharmacist presence at dispensing points, hospitals, and public health programs not been strictly enforced, despite clear patient-safety implications?

8. Why have professional associations largely remained silent or complicit, prioritizing events and positions over legal reform and whistleblower protection?

9. How has the absence of a Pharmacy Practice law contributed to public-health failures, including medication errors, irrational drug use, and antibiotic resistance?

10. Do you accept the need for a complete structural reset—including a separate Pharmacy Practice & Education Regulation Act, reconstitution of the regulator, and criminal accountability for past educational fraud?

#PCI #MoHFW, #ÇDSCO, 

#IPA, #IHPA, #APTI, 

#Pharmacists 

#Exofficios

Pharmacy Intern and Resident

Pharmacy Intern is a student (PharmD candidate) gaining required experience under supervision, while a Pharmacy Resident is a post-graduate pharmacist (a licensed professional) pursuing advanced, specialized training after graduation, both roles involving patient care but at different educational and licensure stages, with residency being optional and enhancing specialized career paths. Interns work towards their degree, performing basic pharmacist duties with a license, whereas Residents, fully licensed, deepen expertise in areas like critical care, oncology, or administration through structured programs (PGY-1, PGY-2). 

Pharmacy Intern

• Status: A pharmacy student (PharmD candidate) completing required experiential rotations.
• Timing: During their degree program, often the final year.
• Role: Assists licensed pharmacists, performs patient counseling, assessments, and dispensing under direct supervision, often with an intern license.
• Goal: Fulfill graduation requirements and gain foundational practice skills. 

Pharmacy Resident

• Status: A fully licensed pharmacist who has graduated from pharmacy school.
• Timing: After graduation (Post-Graduate Year 1, or PGY-1) and potentially further (PGY-2 for specialization).
• Role: Advanced, independent (but supervised) patient care, research, education, and specialized rotations (e.g., critical care, infectious diseases).
• Goal: Develop expertise in a specific clinical area or management, gaining a competitive edge for specialized roles. 

Key Differences Summarized

• Education Level: Student vs. Graduate.
• Licensure: Intern license vs. Full pharmacist license.
• Purpose: Required training vs. Optional specialization.
• Scope: Foundational duties vs. Advanced clinical practice & research.