|
The
inception of modern pharmaceutical education in India is
traced to later part of the nineteenth century. The
credit for this goes to the Madras Medical College.
A pharmacy class was started at the College in 1860, but
it was not for producing professional pharmacists but
for providing instructions in the subject to the
students qualifying for medical diploma, medical degree,
apothecary grade, and hospital assistant grade. The
apothecaries and hospital assistants had
medico-pharmaceutical functions and were not practicing
pharmacists. At the College, at the time there was no
provision for training chemists and druggists, but there
was a plan, in existence since 1852, for examination of
any chemists and druggists who might have been desirous
of presenting themselves for the purpose.
The term 'chemist and druggist' was borrowed from
Britain where the title was in use. There, by the middle
of the nineteenth century these professionals were
scientifically trained. It Based on Invited Lecture
delivered at the Symposium: Pharmaceutical Education in
India: Past, Present and Future, Indian Pharmaceutical
Congress, Delhi, 12-14 December 2008 did not take too
long for creation of the chemists and druggists' class
at the Madras Medical College. It is not possible,
however, to commit upon the exact year of its start.
I have carefully researched at the Tamil Nadu Archives
at Chennai and the Oriental and India Office Collections
of the British Library at London where a lot of material
on Madras Medical College is available, but I have been
unable to ascertain a definite year of start of this
class; it is certain, however, that the class was
instituted during 1870s. In an undocumented article by
Srinivasa Varadan, it was surmised that the course
started 'round about the year, 1874. In the absence any
other evidence we may accept 1874 as the year of
inception of the class at Madras.
In the chronological order the start of the
pharmaceutical education at Goa may have preceded. At
this stage, the only available source of information is
an undocumented article by Cordeiro, wherein it was
stated that 'with the doctors coming from Portugal,
there was always a pharmacist. In the year 1846 a
Medical School was opened and in the same school there
was a School of Pharmacy.’6 For confirming veracity of
this general statement, there is a need for in-depth
research about the state of the profession and education
in pharmacy in the Portuguese possessions in colonial
India. The same also requires to be done for French
colonial possessions of the time. I would have liked to
do it but my lack of knowledge of the Portuguese and
French languages comes in the way of my studies on the
subject.
For full text of this article contact the publisher on
info@kppub.com
|
The above content is an
abstract only. For the full Article please contact:
KONGPOSH Publications Pvt. Ltd.
ICS House, C-19, Commercial Complex, SDA, Opp. IIT Gate,
New Delhi, India -110016
Tel.: 26855839, 20057149, Fax: 91-11-26855876
Email:
info@kppub.com /
fpc@vsnl.com, Website:
http://www.kppub.com |
