A webinar on the topic “Pharmacists: Frontiers ensuring a Healthy India” was organised by school of pharmacy on September 5, 2020 on the occasion of Teachers Day. More than 400 students participated in the webinar. The participants also included the students who have applied for seeking admission in Amrita Vishwavidyapeetham. The objective was to induct the students to different career avenues in pharmacy. Experts from Industry, Pharmacovigilance and clinic explained the scope and opportunities in their respective fields.
The first speaker of the session was Mr. Amit Khanna Sr. Therapy Executive, Astera, Intas Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd. Ahmedabad on the topic “Global Pharmaceutical Industry and the role of Pharmacist”. He provided a glimpse of the functioning at various levels in a pharma industry set-up and the integrated role of different departments in ensuring quality medicines to all. He also enlightened the audience regarding the opportunities in the domestic & international pharma market. He also highlighted the recent policy changes under “Atmanirbhar Bharat” to make end-to-end manufacturing in India i.e. from the raw materials to the finished drug products will be manufactured in India which is now dependent on imports. He also referred to Indian Pharma Industry as the largest producer of vaccines and high quality medicines.
The Second speaker of the webinar was Ms. Lekshmi Chandran Senior safety evaluation and risk management scientist at GSK, Bangalore who delivered a talk on “Career in Pharmacovigilance: Scope and Opportunities”. She focused on the career avenues in the field of Pharmacovigilance. This involves the role of pharmacy graduates and post graduates in detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effect or any other drug related problems thereby ensuring patient safety. Apart from that the role in rational and safe use of medication and promoting education and clinical training was highlighted.
The Final Speaker, Dr. Mohamed Hisham, Clinical staff Pharmacist, Department of Pharmacy services, Cleveland Clinic at Abu Dhabi deliberated on the topic “Role of Clinical Pharmacist in a Hospital Setting”. He focused on the core competences of a clinical pharmacist and the opportunities in different areas of clinical practice. He emphasised on the role of communication between the health care team and the patients and the importance of continuing professional development by regularly updating the knowledge. He also explained the role of clinical pharmacist in different clinical pharmacy specialities. He also guided the students on how to conduct themselves in a pharmacy school with a focus on acquiring the necessary skills by engaging with hospital pharmacists, physicians and teachers.
All the talks were followed by Q&A session in which the speakers addressed all the questions raised by the participants.
