Chandigarh
22 December 2017
DIVYA AZAD
The 69th Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC) kicked off in Chandigarh today at Chitkara University Campus with much fanfare and academic discourse related to the present state of pharmaceutical industry of the country. The three-days mega event was inaugurated by the Governor of Punjab, V P Singh Badnore earlier in the day. The Congress is being attended by over 10,000 delegates including 200 foreigners. This year’s theme of the Congress is ” ‘Skill and will to make quality pill’, and the discussions will be centred around three main tracks- pharma education, pharmacy practice and industry-cum-regulations.
The Governor of Punjab, V P Singh Badnore in his inaugural speech called upon the pharmaceutical professionals and the industry as whole to produce affordable medicines for the poor mass of the country. He also emphasised upon the need to cater to rural hinterland and asked pharmacists to reach out to the villages in pursuit of proving better healthcare in the country.
During the speech the Governor highlighted the role of pharmacists in reducing fake medicines by observing that “India is facing huge challenge of fake drug menace and to minimise it, pharmacists role is very important apart from the regulatory agencies which are working to stop this unholy business. Pharmacists can easily stop this menace by detecting the spurious drug as they deal with medicines as first line of administrating the drugs”.
The 69th IPC is focusing on its concern over India‘s dependence on import of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients(API), the crucial raw material for manufacturing drugs. According to Dr.Shailendra Saraf, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of the IPCE 2017, “India has emerged as a key supplier of generic and affordable medicines for the world market, but it’s overwhelming dependence on China for API to the extent of over 65 per cent of the requirement, is a major worry”.
“The theme of the Congress is ‘Skill and will to make quality pill’, and the discussions will be centred around three main tracks- pharma education, pharmacy practice and industry-cum-regulations,” said Dr. Saraf.
“Forums like IPC provide a unique opportunity to pharma educationalists to interact with industry and regulatory professionals and allow them to acquaint themselves with recent technologies through technical sessions and pharma expo. It would help academicians to look into their curriculum and incorporate content beyond syllabus as per the current need of the industries,” said Ms Madhu Chitkara, Vice Chancellor of Chitkara University, the host of this year’s IPC.
The experts from pharma manufacturing industry, top pharmacists and academicians will be discussing threadbare the importance of good quality and safe medicines. Focus of the current Congress would be on exploring new avenues in capacity building, critical monitoring and evaluation of pharmaceutical products to produce quality and safe medications.
New innovations of pharmaceutical machinery and laboratory equipment etc. from India and overseas will be showcased and run concurrently alongside the technical sessions.
“We will be adopting a resolution on the final day which will be submitted to the Central Government for appropriate action,” concluded Dr.Saraf.
