Mahamana Malaviya: an architecture of Pharmacy Education in India

Dr. Vikas Kumar

The profession of Pharmacy is in the forefront of all walks of life. It is concerned with the procurement, manufacturing and distribution of drugs and medicine for proper health care. Today, the total turnover in organised sector of Pharma business is to the tune of more than Rs. 25,000 crore.

Presently, this discipline is well regulated by various government agencies and supported by a large number of professionals. In reality, Pharmacy Education was not much organised in India till 1932. The entire supply of medicine was carried out by European concerns and in the absence of any regulatory law during colonial rule spurious drugs were prevalent in the market. The control could only be effected by an adequate number of personnel educated and trained in the field of Pharmacy. Absence of any institution imparting this in the whole of Asia prompted Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya to start the education of Pharmacy. He entrusted this responsibility to Prof. M.L. Shroff and pharmaceutical education in India at the University level was started in Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in July 1932. Pt. Madan Mohan Malaviya and Prof. Schroff had the acumen to foresee the demand so early. A two-year course was introduced in 1934 for the degree of B.Sc. (Pharmaceutical Chemistry), with Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Pharmacy and Pharmacognosy as the subjects. Dr. N.K. Basu and Dr. D.N. Majumdar were appointed as lecturers in 1934 gradually in July 1937 a three-year Bachelor in Pharmacy Course was started and Dr. G.P. Srivastava and Dr. S. Prasad were appointed as lecturers. Till 1939, the Department was scattered at four different places, and in the same year it was then housed in a newly constructed building of its own in the Technology Block. A unique feature of the Department of Pharmaceutics was that in the early stages the examiners of theory papers were appointed from the England. The Department gained reputation due to the high standard of teaching by learned faculty members. The postgraduate (M.Pharm.) and doctoral programmes were initiated in this Department in the years 1941 and 1945, respectively for the first time in the country.

Since its inception, the Department of Pharmaceutics, has not only been a pioneer institution producing Pharmacy graduates with sound scientific and technical background but has grown into a centre for providing versatile postgraduate training and conducting advance research in various fields of Pharmacy. The Department has the honour of being headed by eminent personalities viz., Prof. M.L. Schroff, Prof. N.K. Basu, Prof. S. Prasad, Prof. G.P. Srivastava, Prof. G.B. Singh, Prof. P.C. Dandiya and Prof. S. Ghosal.

The Department is the birthplace of professional bodies namely, The U.P. Pharmaceutical Association (1934), The Pharmaceutical Society of BHU (1934) and Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (1966). The first journal of the U.P. Pharmaceutical Association – The Indian Journal of Pharmacy was brought out in 1939 from this Department. In 1940 the U.P. Pharmaceutical Association was elevated to the national level body–The Indian Pharmaceutical Association with its office at Banaras (now in Mumbai). Presently the Indian Pharmaceutical Association has grown into a behemoth, and now this is published under the title “Indian Journal of Pharmaceutical Sciences” from Mumbai. The Pharmaceutical Society, the oldest of its kind in the country, established in 1934 in the Department, is the forum for the alumni, faculty and students of the Department. The society also publishes its official annual journal The Pharmstudent, the first scientific journal of Pharmacy from Pharmacy institutions in India. The Pharmstudent is abstracted in Chemical Abstract and International Pharmaceutical Abstract.

The Department has produced over 1100 B.Pharm, 600 M.Pharm. and about 80 Ph.D. graduates who enjoy leading positions in Industry, Academia and contemporary Pharmacy Practice worldwide. The Department of Pharmaceutics boasts over 2,600 research papers in national and international journals in areas including development of novel drug delivery systems, neuropsychopharmacology, ethnopharmacology, preclinical studies (in-vivo & in-vitro), drug safety studies, discovery of drugs (natural & synthetic) against diabetes, epilepsy, neurodegenerative disorders, tuberculosis and AIDS etc. The Department of Pharmaceutics has hosted many major events at the national level, like the 17th & 34th session of Indian Pharmaceutical Congress (IPC) in 1965 and 1982 in conjunction with Silver Jubilee and Golden Jubilee of the Department respectively. The Department has also organised seminars and symposia in years 1979, 1981 and 2005.

The seed of pharmaceutical education that was sown in India in 1932 has gradually evolved into a full-fledged Department, and ranks in the top three institutions in India. Its alumni are spread out all over the globe in every continent. The Department is celebrating its 75th year of Pharmacy education in India and we pay tribute to these stalwarts. The Department feels proud to have the blessings of Mahamana Malaviyajee and for his vision to foresee the pharmaceutical education in India which has occupied a central status world wide.

On this historic occasion of completion of 75 years in the service of Pharmaceutical Education and Research at Department of Pharmaceutics (Pharmacy) at Institute of Technology (IT), BHU we alumni pay our respect to Mahamanajee & our great teachers and pray for growth of this seat of learning in the spirit of its motto. The Association of Pharmaceutical Teachers of India (APTI) is also organising IPC-2007 during December 20th to 23rd, 2007 in BHU to commemorate the Platinum Jubilee Year of the Department of Pharmaceutics, IT, BHU.

The author is an alumnus of the Department of Pharmaceutics, IT, BHU and serving his Alma Mater as Reader in Pharmacology.