ISLAMABAD: Since he completed his Pharm. D from the Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU) in 2016, Mohammad Daud Butt has not been able to get a job.

He was also interviewed a number of times but was rejected after being asked if the university from which he obtained his master’s degree was affiliated with the Pharmacy Council.

“I came from Lahore to Islamabad in 2011 in order to join the first batch of the QAU programme. This is the top university in Pakistan and we were all proud of being students of QAU. However, we got to know that the department is not accredited from the Pharmacy Council after we joined. We were told that the affiliation process is going on. I completed my course in 2016 and the matter has still not been addressed,” Mr Butt told Dawn.

“We have 18 professors with PhD’s in the department but the Pharmacy Council would still not affiliate it. Initially, they said the university has a common library and that the department should have its own library. When a separate library was established, the council continued raising objections and directed to diversify the department,” he added.

Students will have to sit exit exam as department has not yet been affiliated with Pharmacy Council

Mr Butt said the department is spread over 22 kanals and has all necessary equipment. On the other hand, he added, some universities are established in five marla houses and do not have a single PhD professor but the council has no objections with them.

“The university was [temporarily] affiliated with the Pharmacy Council but it was directed that students of the first semester have to appear in a pre-qualification exam. There is no precedent of a pre-qualification or exit exam. We also do not know if the exam will be conducted because there is no such provision in the council’s law. We cannot get jobs till the issue is addressed,” he said.

Another student, Mohammad Shakeel said he got admission in the department in the second batch in 2012 and was told at the time that the issue will be addressed.

“The private sector does not pay adequate salaries and I therefore decided to start a business as a pharmacist. However, because my degree is not accredited by the Pharmacy Council, I could not be registered as a pharmacist,” he said.

“The students had a meeting with the university’s vice chancellor, Dr Javed Ashraf and he assured us he will request the Minister National Health Services (NHS) Saira Afzal Tarar to address the issue but no progress has been observed so far,” he added.

Mr Shakeel said the students wanted to protest outside the National Press Club but decided to wait until the current protests were over.

Students can take admissions in pharmacy degrees after their F.Sc Pre-Medical. The course was initially four years long and was called B-Pharmacy but it was made five-years long a few years ago and is now called Doctor of Pharmacy, or Pharm-D.

The degree, recognised by the Pharmacy Council, is accepted nationally and internationally and graduates can pursue PhD programmes afterwards as well.

An official of the NHS ministry, which controls the Pharmacy Council, said the matter has been raised in Senate.

“The university admitted students without getting a no-objection certificate from the council and a number of correspondences were made to not admit students. But the university did not pay heed and enrolled 98 students in the first year and 88 in the second. However, the university was given an NOC in 2013 according to which it could not admit more than 60 students,” he said.

The official said the exam was suggested as a way out for students and that the university has been directed to pay 100pc of the student’s fee as a penalty and as a deterrent for other universities.

The Pakistan Medical and Dental Council has also done the same, he added.

He said the Peshawar High Court had directed for the exams to be held and that the Supreme Court had also rejected the students’ application.

Talking to Dawn, the vice president of the Pharmacy Council said a team from the council had visited the QAU department on Jan 3.

He said the teacher to student ratio should be 1:10 and that it was 1:18 in the department. The board of studies lacked the speciality of Pharmaceutical Chemistry in Pakistan and it was also found that the university was running the post-graduate programme in pharmacy without the council’s approval.

“We decided to grant recognition for two years, conditional on the appointment of teaching faculty. The exit exam will be held after the university pays the penalty,” he said.

QAU VC Dr Javed Ashraf said the university management has been trying to address the issue.

The Pharmacy Council is a regulatory body established under the Pharmacy Act 1967 to regulate pharmacy practice and education. Its mandate is to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and wellbeing of patients and the public who use pharmaceutical services in Pakistan.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2018