HYDERABAD: Allegations of issuance of pharmacy registration certificates to ineligible candidates have surfaced against the former registrar of Telangana Pharmacy Council – G Ramdhan.
Students have alleged that registration certificates were issued by the former registrar during the academic year 2021-2022 even to those who had failed in a two-year diploma course in pharmacy. In one such instance, a person who had failed in one subject of part 2 of the diploma received the certificate of ‘Registered Pharmacist’ by the Council in the year 2022.
As per Chapter 1 of Education Regulations, 2020, for diploma course in pharmacy issued in the gazette regulation of the Pharmacy Council of India, “The minimum qualification for registration as a pharmacist shall be a pass in Diploma in Pharmacy (Part I and part II) and satisfaction completion of Diploma in Pharmacy (Part III).”
Further, Chapter 2 states that the minimum criteria for passing the examination is to secure at least 40% marks in each of the subjects in the theory as well as the practical examination, including the sessional marks for the two-year diploma course.
These regulations were formulated under Section 10 of the Pharmacy Act, 1948, for the course. However, registration certificates were issued to candidates who had failed in some of the subjects, and were therefore ineligible for getting registered as pharmacists. A Sanjay Reddy, former president of the Council, speaking to the TNIE, said, “Issuing certificates to candidates who have failed the examination is a violation of the Pharmacy Act, 1948. As per our knowledge, hundreds of students who failed the examination were issued the registration certificates under the former registrar. We are requesting the government to take strict actions against those involved in issuing these certificates”. It is to be noted that the official is at present the deputy director of the Drug Control Administration (DCA).
On being contacted by TNIE, the concerned official said that he had signed the registration certificates but was not fully aware of the circumstances under which the documents were approved by him.
