The Indian Pharmaceutical Association’s Community Pharmacy Division (CPD) has formally urged the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to integrate pharmacy professionals into the upcoming Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) revision committee, citing significant gaps in current guidelines regarding pharmacists’ roles, duties, and staffing levels under IPHS 2022.
Raj Vaidya, Vice President and Chairperson of the IPA-CPD, stated that pharmacists’ defined functions are predominantly focused on dispensing, stock maintenance, inventory, and store management. However, their broader contributions to patient care, medication safety, health promotion, and the safe use of medicines are not adequately articulated in the standards.
Pharmacist Roles and Responsibilities
The prescribed number of pharmacists appears inadequate to meet existing workloads, particularly if they are to contribute meaningfully to patient-oriented and public-health services. The roles and responsibilities of pharmacists have not been articulated with comparable clarity to those of other healthcare personnel.
Pharmacists remain underutilized in India, despite their potential to make substantial contributions to the health system. They can support patient counseling, medication safety, rational use of medicines, chronic disease management, pharmacovigilance, antimicrobial stewardship, and preventive healthcare, in collaboration with doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
Recommendations for IPHS Revision
The IPA-CPD recommended that the Ministry include qualified representatives of the pharmacy profession in expert committees, technical working groups, and consultations for the next IPHS revision. They also suggested consulting the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) and other relevant professional organizations to ensure that pharmacists’ competencies and service requirements are considered.
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A clear definition and expansion of pharmacists’ roles and responsibilities should be included in the next IPHS revision. This should incorporate patient-oriented and public-health functions, such as patient counseling, prescription review, medication therapy management, and health promotion.
Staffing Norms and Performance Indicators
The Centre should review and enhance pharmacist staffing norms, considering actual patient and prescription loads, facility operating hours, and other responsibilities. The revised IPHS should include indicators to assess pharmacists’ performance and contribution beyond prescription dispensing and stock management.
These indicators may include patient counseling, medication-safety interventions, adverse drug reaction reporting, and participation in antimicrobial stewardship. The IPA-CPD requested that the Ministry initiate structured consultations with the pharmacy profession to review existing provisions and develop recommendations for the next IPHS revision.
The IPA-CPD extended its support for further professional inputs and participation in consultations or expert-group deliberations undertaken for this purpose. They aim to strengthen the healthcare team and improve patient outcomes, not replace other healthcare professionals with pharmacists.
By including pharmacists in the revision process, the Ministry can ensure that the IPHS accurately reflects the role of pharmacists in the healthcare system. Raj Vaidya emphasized that pharmacists are essential members of the healthcare team and that their contributions should be recognized and valued. The IPA-CPD’s recommendations are intended to improve patient care and outcomes, and they look forward to working with the Ministry to achieve this goal.
