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                                                                  Clinical Pharmacy Group: Social Pharmacy  
                                                             Division of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy 
                                                                                  Faculty of Pharmacy 
                                                                                 University of Helsinki 
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                   
                                                                                                    
                           
                                                            Public Health and Patient Care Aspects in  
                                                        Pharmacy Education and Pharmacists’ Role in  
                                                            National Public Health Programs in India 
                                                                                                   
                           
                                                              Siva Prasada Reddy Maddirala Venkata  
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                           
                                                                            ACADEMIC DISSERTATION 
                                     To be presented, with the permission of the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University 
                                     of Helsinki, for public examination in Auditorium Athena, Siltavuorenpenger 3 A,  
                                                                        on Friday 19 May 2017, at 12 noon. 
                                                                                                   
                                                                                       Helsinki 2017 
                           
                           
                                                                                                   
                           
                  
                 Supervisors                  Professor Marja Airaksinen, PhD 
                                              Clinical Pharmacy Group: Social Pharmacy  
                                              Division of Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy 
                                              Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki 
                                              Helsinki, Finland 
                                               
                                              Proprietor Pharmacist Peter Kielgast, PhD  
                                              Taastrup Pharmacy  
                                              Taastrup Hovedgade 60 
                                              2630 Taastrup, Denmark  
                                               
                                               
                 Pre-examiners                Professor B. Suresh  
                                              Vice-Chancellor, Jagadguru Sri Shivarathreeshwara University 
                                              and  
                                              President, Pharmacy Council of India 
                                              JSS Medical Institutions Campus 
                                              Sri Shivarathreeshwara Nagara 
                                              Mysuru – 570 015, Karnataka, India 
                                               
                                               
                                              Dr. T. V. Narayana  
                                              Director, Vikas Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences 
                                              Nidigatla village, Korukonda Mandal, Near Airport 
                                              Rajahmundry, East Godavari Dist 
                                              Andhra Pradesh – 533103, India       
                                               
                  
                 Opponent                     Fernando Fernandez-Llimos, Ph.D., PharmD., M.B.A. 
                                              Assistant Professor, Department of Social Pharmacy  
                                              University of Lisbon, Portugal 
                                               
                                               
                                               
                  
                  
                  
                  
                 ©  Siva Prasada Reddy Maddirala Venkata 2017 
                 ISBN 978-951-51-3169-0 (paperback) 
                 ISBN 978-951-51-3170-6 (PDF) 
                 Dissertationes Scholae Doctoralis Ad Sanitatem Investigandam Universitatis Helsinkiensis 
                 ISSN 2342-3161 (print) 
                 ISSN 2342-317x (online) 
                 University of Helsinki, Finland 2017 
                  
                                                                 
                  
                  
                 ABSTRACT  
                 Pharmacies are convenient for most people to get to and there is no need for an appointment 
                 to see pharmacist which makes them natural first port of call1 healthcare providers in the 
                 society. Worldwide, pharmacists are potentially a vital link in healthcare chain. Since public 
                 health services do not cater to all the population, pharmacies and private health providers can 
                 play a major role in the healthcare system. This also applies to India with a population of over 
                 1.3 billion. Though there is a large presence, pharmacists both in public as well as in private 
                                                                      2,3,4 
                 sector remain largely an untapped resource in India.     
                  
                 Aims and objectives  
                 The objective of this study was to assess public health and patient care aspects in pharmacy 
                 education and the role of pharmacists in national public health programs (NPHPs) in India. The 
                 research goal was to find out possibilities and ways of extending pharmacists involvement in 
                 national public health programs and how pharmacist education could partly facilitate this shift. 
                 The research was divided into four studies which were published as separate original 
                 publications. Two of the studies were programmatic studies (I, II) and two cross-sectional 
                 surveys (III, IV). 
                 The studies I-IV had the following specific objectives:  
                         to review pharmacy education system in India from public health and patient care 
                         perspective. 
                         to compare curriculum of different Indian pharmacy programs (DPharm, BPharm, and 
                         PharmD) to see overall differences with a focus on the amount of time devoted for 
                         pharmaceutical policies and public health, patient care and pharmacy practice aspects in 
                         the programs (I).  
                         to compare Indian pharmacy curriculum at all levels with pharmacy curriculum of USA, 
                         Finland and Denmark (II). 
                                                                 3 
                  
                          
                                    to explore acquaintance of final year pharmacy students with 11 major National Public 
                                    Health Programs and their attitude on pharmacists’ involvement in public health and 
                                    patient care (III).  
                                    to characterize physician perceptions on the role of pharmacists in public health and 
                                    patient care (IV).  
                          
                         Comparison of curricula (I,II) 
                         The programmatic studies (I, II) were conducted between March 2012 and 2014. The curricula 
                         collected from the statutory agencies were used for the comparison to see the overall 
                         differences with a focus on the amount of time devoted for pharmaceutical policies and public 
                         health, patient care and pharmacy practice aspects in the programs. (I) 
                         Syllabi of courses leading to 1) registered pharmacist title in India (DPharm, BPharm and 
                         PharmD), 2) USA (PharmD, curriculum from University of Florida), 3) Finland (Master of Science 
                         in Pharmacy program from University of Helsinki), and 4) Denmark (Master of Science in 
                         Pharmacy  program from University of Copenhagen) were used for comparison. (II)  
                          
                         The results indicate that Indian DPharm and BPharm programs were industry focused, and only 
                         PharmD has focus on clinical pharmacy and patient oriented services (I). Indian and US PharmD 
                         programs contain most and Indian DPharm and BPharm least public health and patient care 
                         aspects (II). DPharm holders are mainstays of pharmacy practice in India but their degree least 
                         contains patient care and public health aspects. There is a gap in curriculum, particularly at 
                         DPharm level. (I) 
                          
                         Pharmacy Students’ Perceived Knowledge and Attitude on their role in NPHPs (III) 
                         This study was conducted as a classroom survey among final year DPharm, BPharm and PharmD 
                         students in India to explore acquaintance with 11 major NPHPs and their attitude on 
                         pharmacists’ involvement in public health and patient care (III). A survey instrument was 
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