PCI and AICTE start joint inspections in pharmacy colleges; first phase of evaluation work only for fresh approvals
Following a direction from the Supreme Court of India, the regulators of pharmacy education in the country, the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) have started joint inspections in institutions of pharmaceutical sciences from March 11 this year. The inspection procedure will continue up to April 25, sources informed. “This is for the first time the two education regulating bodies are conducting simultaneous inspections on the same day in same institutions after pharmacy education was started in India. Previously, the two teams were visiting on different dates, said Prof. Rituraj Bharadwaj, pharmacy professor at Assam Down Town University in Guwahati. Although the inspectors of both the agencies carry out simultaneous inspections in the same institution on same day, they do their survey and evaluation work separately on different parameters. Both the teams are following different guidelines also, authorities from colleges i...