(Kousik Ahmed Khan): History is the way to find out the root. In 1964, 1st July PHARMACY Education started its endless journey under the supervision of Professor Emeritus Dr. Abdul Jabbar which roams around him till today.
In 1947, there was no institute for pharmacy education in the newly born Pakistan though there were lots of thoughts to open such an institute. In response to the introduction of the Pharmacy profession and its brighter aspects abroad and the development of foreign pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan, Lahore University opened a pharmacy department in mid-1948 in West Pakistan (present Pakistan). From the partition of the subcontinent, the gradual discrimination towards East Pakistan (Bangladesh) also affected Pharmacy Education, though a good number of students in this part were interested in Pharmacy. But they didn’t get the chance. At that period Prof. Dr. Abdul Jabbar strongly felt the necessity of Pharmacy Education when he was adopting higher degrees in abroad and tried to admit some students to Lahore University every year. But only 2 to 4 students got the chance among the 10 to 15’s though they were truly qualified. Those days went on in this way.
During the late 50’s there were few small pharmaceutical companies in East Pakistan (Bangladesh). The demand of the medicine market was fulfilled through imports. Moreover, some big companies named Albert David, Glaxo, and Baroz Welcome went into production, which needs Pharmacists though there was no scope to fill the demand.
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First stride
Gradually increasing demand for Pharmacists and the discrimination faced by the students of East Pakistan initiated the thought to start Pharmacy Education at Dhaka University. And Dr. Abdul Jabbar was the First to initiate the process. During that period renowned Educationist Dr. Mahmud Hossain was the Vice Chancellor of Dhaka University. With his help, a scheme for establishing a Pharmacy department at Dhaka University was sent to Planning Commission several times. But the Planning Commission of Government refused to do so, mentioning the lack of teachers. Though in Lahore University Pharmacy education ran under teachers who were not pharmacists, for more than one decade and a new plan was passed to start Pharmacy at Karachi University. Moreover, from the 1950s Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Chemistry existed as subsidiary subjects under the Chemistry department in Dhaka University. Thus today it’s not difficult to understand the decision was just an expression of discrimination.
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Procurement
Meanwhile, Dr. Abdul Jabbar got a fellowship at San-Francisco School of Pharmacy, USA for one year in 1960 and Biochemistry was established as a separate department. Dr. Kamaluddin Ahmed was selected as Chairman. Coming back Dr. A. Jabbar with Dr. Kamal started again to set up a platform for pharmacy. Moreover, Dr. Kamal sent three meritorious students named Mr. Abdur Rashid, Mr. Shukur Khan, and Mr. Shamsul Alam Talukdar for higher studies during 1961-62. Thus the lack of teachers was solved.
Afterward, Dr. Abdul Jabbar and Dr. Kamal interacted with the University administration to start the Pharmacy education. Prof. Mahmud Hossain as Vice Chancellor passed the proposal and sent it to Planning Commission. Today we must reminiscence the name of those great persons to whom we are grateful, the Education Minister of East Pakistan Late Mafizuddin Ahmed, and Economist Late Dr. M. N. Huda and Dr. K. T. Hossain who shortly joined in planning commission. At last with their reference Planning Commission was bound to approve the proposal in late 1962.
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At a glance
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Department of Pharmacy started its journey in 1964.
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With 20 students and with a few teachers and fewer physical facilities, lecture rooms, labs, and utilities.
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From 1964 to 1966, Both the Dept of Biochemistry and the Dept of Pharmacy were virtually sharing the same classrooms and labs.
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The same batch of teachers use to teach pharmacy and biochemistry undergraduates.
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Prof Kamaluddin Ahmed was the first Chairman of the Dept. of Pharmacy and Dept. of Biochemistry.
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Prof A. Jabbar became the chairman of the Dept. of Pharmacy in 1966, though he was at the core of the Department of Pharmacy since its inception in 1964.
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The Faculty members were Prof Kamal Ahmed & Dr. A Jabbar, Dr. N.H.Khan, Dr. Golam Haider, Dr. Atiqur Rahman, Dr. Akhter Hossain, Mr. Parvez Ahmed, Late Dr. Anwarul Azim Choudhury, part-time, Late Dr.Abdur Rahman and Sree Nirmal Chakraborti.
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Prof. Ali Nawab, part-time ( Chemistry), Dr. Farid Uddin Ahmed, Part-time, from DMCH. Mr. Ansari, part-time from Albert David.
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Dr. Rashid Purakaystha, Mr. Sukkur Khan, and Dr. S.A. Talukder, Prof. Ghani, joined the department during the period.
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In 1969 the Dept first started its M Pharm Course for thesis students, limited to 3 to 4 students. Others were not allowed to pursue their M Pharm degrees.
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On 1st Feb’1969, a group of young talented teachers( AKAC, SNK, and BKD) joined the dept. and took the maximum load of theoretical and practical classes in Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Physical Pharmacy, and Microbiology.
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In 1970 the B.Pharm graduates got the chance to do Pharm both in the thesis and non-thesis groups
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The curriculum of B.Pharm (Hons.)
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The course curriculum was heavily tilted toward Pharmaceutical Chemistry and Pharmacognosy and little on Pharmaceutics and industrial pharmacy and none about clinical pharmacy & pharmacy practice.
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Most research was conducted in phytochemistry and that too without bioactivity directed.
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Some work was done on the isolation of antimicrobial principles from soil fungi.
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Limited studies on the stability and quality control of the compounds in pharmaceutical preparations ( basically the determination of conc. of active principles in preparations by chemical & spectrophotometric methods).
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The present state of Pharmacy Education
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There are 6 public universities and 22 private universities in Bangladesh with Pharmacy Department.
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Public universities follow a yearly system of four years of degree courses and one year of master’s. Private universities follow a semester system.
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The course curriculum generally follows the DU syllabus.
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The faculty members are drawn mostly from DU and other public university pharmacy departments, medical institutions, and related disciplines from other universities.
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The Problems of Pharmacy Education
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The major problem is in the course curriculum. The major thrust is given in pharm chem. and other related subjects. Even in Pharm Chem, stress is not given to combinatorial chemistry, computational chemistry, and facile synthetic routes to active pharmaceutical ingredients.
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The practice of pharmacy and health care delivery system, pharmacoepidemiology, professional ethics, and social & behavioral pharmacy are ignored.
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Pharmaceutical care, quality of care in the hospital and community settings, drug information and adverse drug reactions monitoring, and medication safety are virtually not existing.
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Rational drug use is taught but the emphasis on different intervention strategies to promote it is poor.
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Pharmaceutical biotechnology, recombinant DNA technology, and genetically engineered medicines are not given due importance in the course curriculum. In fact, the molecular biology syllabus is not comprehensive and is of rudimentary nature.
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Pharmacogenomics is not given due importance, in-country research in the field is very limited.
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Practical course design is poor and the facilities are even poorer.
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Internship Program
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Too short and ill-defined, pharmacy graduates usually have 3 to 4 weeks of training in the pharmaceutical industry is too insufficient and not properly graded. The internship should be at least two months and indicators should be used for grading.
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There is no provision for internship in the hospital which is at the core of pharmacy practice.
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There is no provision for retail pharmacy training though it is the main avenue for employment of pharmacists outside the country.
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As the pharmaceutical sector especially the production and factory jobs becomes saturated proper training in pharmaceutical marketing should be included in the internship program.
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Industrial training, hospital training, and retail pharmacy training are not been welcome by pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, and retail shops. The very culture of imparting training in those organizations has not been developed, though some of the pharmaceutical companies are enthusiastic about the internship.
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Clinical Trials
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Exposure to clinical trials virtually not existing in Bangladesh.
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There is a great opportunity for clinical trials to be conducted in the developing world at a cheaper cost. Some of the countries like India and China are reaping the benefit. If Bangladeshi pharmacists are exposed to the methodology of clinical trials (new chemical entity or old generic drugs in new formulations) that can generate great employment opportunities for the pharmacist.
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Bangladesh can conduct clinical trials from phase-1 to phase-4 if hospital facilities are developed and clinical pharmacists and doctors are properly trained.
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Research activities in clinical Pharmacy & Pharmacology
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Effect of Aqueous Extracts of Black and Green Tea (Camellia sinensis) in Arsenic-Induced Toxicity in Rabbits.
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Antibacterial activity of two limonoids from Swietenia mahagoni against multiple-drugs-resistant (MDR) bacterial strains.
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Pachypodol, a Flavonol from the Leaves of Calycopteris floribunda, Inhibits the Growth of the CaCo2 Colon Cancer Cell Line in vitro.
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Isolation, Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Optochin Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae by Conventional And Molecular Techniques.
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Isolation, Identification and Antimicrobial Susceptibility of Optochin Resistant Streptococcus pneumoniae by Conventional And Molecular Techniques.
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Antibiotic Susceptibility and Molecular Characterization of Salmonella Paratyphi A Isolated in Bangladesh.
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Excessive use of avoidable therapeutic injections in the upazila health complexes of Bangladesh
Studying and implementing the monitoring-training-planning strategy to ensure the rational use of injections in the hospitals of the Upazila Health Complexes of Bangladesh.
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Modulation of Insulin Secretion and Insulin Sensitivity in Bangladeshi Type 2 Diabetic Subjects by an Insulin Sensitizer Pioglitazone and its Pharmacokinetics Study.
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Comparison of Three DNA Fingerprinting Methods as Tools for Epidemiological Studies of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
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Future of Pharmacy Profession in Bangladesh
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The practice of pharmacy will become ever more important in the developed and developing country with more potent drugs coming to the market.
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Pharmaceutical care will be an important component of health care as the awareness of adverse drug reactions, pharmacogenomics and pharmacoeconomics, and socioeconomics factors associated with health and diseases are being recognized.
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Rising longevity will increase dependence on medicines and hereby on pharmacists.
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Regulatory affairs and Drug Administration will play a more important role in the country.
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Waiver of WTO regulations and restrictions has given an important opportunity to export drugs to developed and developing countries.
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Countries’ own drug consumption will see a phenomenal increase with the rise in purchasing power of the people.
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So the pharmaceutical industries will witness a rapid increase in growth resulting in more demand for manpower in the industries.
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Global concern for better health care at an affordable price involving all types of health personnel, doctors, pharmacists, nurses, social scientists, and economists will favor the developing countries having knowledge and skill in the areas mentioned above.
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Updating of knowledge and skill of Pharmacists
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Introduction of five years of PharmD courses giving more emphasis on the practice of pharmacy, pharmaceutical care, rational use of medicine, outcome studies to improve health care services
The internship program should be redesigned and the period of internship be increased to 4-6 months in hospital/retail pharmacy/industries depending on the field of specialization.
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Training in clinical trial methodology involving new molecules/old molecules in new formulations is given to the graduates.
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The use of molecular biology techniques in health and pharmacy be given proper emphasis.
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Pharmacogenomics should be properly taught and researched.
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Adverse drug reaction monitoring should be introduced in the course curriculum.
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The administrative and social pharmacy should be taught with proper emphasis.
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A holistic approach to health care involving all the issues and disciplines be included in the course curriculum.
Ref: Azad AK, 2007. BAPA Journal, Aug, 10-14
Pharma Jogot