AICTE, PCI settle regulatory discord over pharmacy education

The HRD Ministry has worked out an agreement between All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) to settle "regulatory discord" over running of pharmacy colleges.
According to official sources, there are over 1,000 pharmacy colleges in the country which are regulated by AICTE while PCI, which comes under the Health Ministry, lays down norms for them.
"There have been instances when the two bodies are not on the same page on key matters like fixing the number of seats in colleges. It is a case of jurisdictional overlapping. Recently, the Calcutta High Court had directed the HRD Ministry to resolve the conflict between these two regulatory bodies," an official source told PTI.

HRD Minister Secretary V S Oberoi had held a meeting with top officials of AICTE and PCI last week to discuss the issues following the high court order, the sources said.
To create greater synergy between tho two bodies, it has been decided that AICTE will mandatorily incorporate PCI norms and standards in its forthcoming Approval Process Handbook, a senior official said.
Existing pharmacy institutions will be inspected by officials of both AICTE and PCI and further action can be initiated to eliminate substandard institutions.
It has also been decided that outstanding matters of pharmacy colleges should be discussed in an elaborate manner in Executive Committee meetings of AICTE to address the quality issues, the official said.

The sources said the meeting had decided to set up a committee with the members from AICTE and PCI to look into various aspects of running pharmacy colleges.