Kalyani Ayurveda school gets Jadavpur University backing

The Bengal Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, inaugurated recently, said its expected to see a rush of students for its 'Bachelor of Pharmacy in Ayurveda' degree.

"The 4-year course in eight semesters was conducted on Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) basis under the umbrella of Jadavpur University and its Department of Pharmaceutical Technology," Subir Pal, CEO and president, Bengal Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, told Business Standard.

The 13,500 sq ft institute on a 33-acre plot of West Bengal government's State Pharmacopoeial Laboratory & Pharmacy for Indian Medicine premises at Kalyani, Nadia also had a 15-acre medicinal plant garden, 5 bigha medicinal plant nursery, 20,000 sq ft ayurvedic medicine manufacturing factory and an Ayurvedic medicine testing house.

"This is the second pharmaceutical institute in India, first being in Jamnagar, Gujarat," added Pal.

"Since Jadavpur University faculty teach our students here, a part of the fees goes to them too," said Pal.

The global herbal market, estimated at $162 billion annually (2002-03) is expected to expand by $3 trillion (3x1012) by the year 2020 and $5 trillion by 2050 as prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

"Automatically, there would be a phenomenal demand for pharmaceutical sciences professionals," said C. M Ghosh, Director of State Pharmacopoeial Laboratory and Pharmacy for Indian Medicines, Kalyani, West Bengal.

According to a World Health Organisation (WHO) report, after Information Technology (IT), the next boom is for the pharmaceutical and construction industry.

"The boom is justified because if one molecule of a synthetically-made medicine would cost Rs 4,000 crore, a new molecule isolation through Plant Made Pharmaceuticals (PMP) would cost Rs 500 crore," Ghosh said.

The plant made pharmaceuticals (PMP) market was growing at 20 per cent every year.

In India, more than 70 per cent of the patients are still treated with plant-based medicine, claimed Ghosh.

India can export both the herbs and its products sharing the approximate global market of $3 trillion in 2020.

West Bengal has 300 odd manufacturers of Ayurvedic and Yunani medicines. India contributed 0.8 per cent to the world market of plant-medicinal products with 7,500-odd ayurvedic manufacturing units.

"If 2 people are employed per manufacturing unit, the demand is immediately that of 15,000 professionals," added Ghosh.

"As per Drugs & Cosmetic Rule 1945 of government of India, B Pharm (Ayur) degree is an essential qualification for Techno-Managerial jobs of Ayurvedic/Herbal industries. Graduates can also become manufacturing chemists or take up ayurvedic-medicine-quality-control jobs. Students can also bag industrial jobs," said Pal.

Ayurveda graduates would have to work with Ayurvedic drug manufacturing industries and GMP standards to be employable.

"The fact that India, by virtue of its low cost technical manpower, is likely to emerge as a global R & D hub, further boots the employment opportunities. Moreover, Ayurveda is an area that offers the maximum possibilities for patent filings," said Ghosh.

At present, there were 30 students.

Any Science student with minimum 50 per cent aggregate was eligible through the West Bengal Joint Entrance Examination (WBJEE).