India’s healthcare system should utilize registered pharmacists’ expertise, says the All India PharmD Association (AIPDA), seeking recognition beyond their current role as dispensers, to fully integrate their skills into healthcare delivery.
Current Framework and Challenges
According to Bhagavan PS, mentor cum advisor at AIPDA, former Registrar of the Karnataka State Pharmacy Council, and former Deputy Director of Pharmacy in Karnataka’s health department, the existing retail drug licensing framework requires a pharmacist but does not grant authority over drug stocks, their movement and dispensing. This disconnect has led to absenteeism among pharmacists, as their registration supports the license while actual control of medicines remains with the proprietor or other personnel.
Bhagavan emphasized that empowering pharmacists is both a professional demand and a public health necessity. He noted that they should not be ornamental spectators at medicine counters but empowered, accountable healthcare professionals who protect the public where medicines are dispensed, supplied and used. However, he clarified that empowerment does not mean unrestricted prescribing authority or overriding a doctor’s clinical judgment. Instead, it involves granting qualified pharmacists legal authority, professional independence, defined responsibilities and institutional support to identify medication-related risks and intervene appropriately.
Role of Pharmacists in Healthcare
In an age of patient safety and prescription accountability, pharmacists are expected to screen prescriptions for safety, identify inappropriate doses, contraindications, drug interactions, duplications and potentially harmful combinations. They should question unsafe prescriptions and contact prescribers for clarification or correction. Bhagavan also highlighted the need for extra care on high-risk drugs and polypharmacy, prevention of self-medication, inappropriate antibiotic use, and efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) through awareness and education.
Driving affordability and financial protection, Bhagavan stressed the need to prevent avoidable expenditure on self-medication, duplicate therapies and inappropriate investigations through coordinated healthcare interventions.
As drug regulation and enforcement strengthen, he sees the need to improve medicine traceability via digital dispensing records and reporting systems, enhancing regulatory intelligence by involving pharmacists in detecting violations that might otherwise go unnoticed.
Public Health Benefits and Regulatory Integration
During emergencies, epidemics and public health campaigns, pharmacists must improve medicine safety. Establishing clear professional accountability for dispensing and medication-related decisions is essential. Bhagavan concluded that better use of India’s pharmacy workforce requires utilizing registered pharmacists’ knowledge and skills rather than treating them as dispensers or statutory formalities.
This approach reduces the burden on doctors by assigning appropriate medication-related responsibilities to qualified pharmacists while preserving each profession’s legal scope of practice. The anticipated public gains include safer medication use, fewer preventable treatment-related harms, more rational drug utilisation, improved affordability and stronger enforcement of drug laws.
