Community Pharmacy Division

Community Pharmacy is a term globally used to denote the pharmacy setup where pharmacist comes directly in contact with the patients. In this sense, Retail pharmacies (or Chemist Shops as commonly called in our country) are the Community Pharmacies. The concept of Community Pharmacy is very well developed in most other countries. Taking note of this, Indian Pharmaceutical Association created a division in year 1996 to make the Pharmacists aware of their role in the community.

IPA Community Pharmacy Division (IPA CPD) aims to enhance the role of a pharmacist and raise professional standards of pharmacy practice through its activities and aims to improve the public health through community pharmacists’ services.

Mr.Brijesh Regal, Mr Gundu Rao, Dr M D Burande, Mr Raj Vaidya and Mrs. Manjiri Gharat (current Chairperson) have led the CPD as Chairman.

Major Projects and Activities of CPD:

GPP and Accreditation of Pharmacies: IPA CPD, in collaboration with WHO India and CDSCO developed Good Pharmacy Practice Training Manual in year 2005 which is a first of its kind of a document in India on GPP. CPD also carried out pilot project on Accreditation of Pharmacies in year 2007 in collaboration with WHO India Office.

TB Fact Card and DOTS TB Pharmacist project: CPD’s flagship project has been a public-private partnership project engaging pharmacists in Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programs (RNTCP) and the entire journey of IPA in area of TB Control is captured in a publication “Pharmacists at the Frontlines-A Novel Approach at Combating TB”. (Available on IPA Website)

Consumer Medicine Education Initiatives: CPD works consistently for Consumer Medicine Education to improve responsible use of medicines in the society. CPD initiated a Campaign for Awareness on Responsible Use of medicines (CARUM) since year 2014 and has several Posters, leaflets prepared under CARUM in different languages. Main highlight is the handbook Responsible Use of Medicines: A Layman’s Handbook, which is a first ever publication educating the consumers on basic aspects of medicine usage. CPD prepares material for National Pharmacy Week (NPW) and for World Pharmacist Day. (All this material is available on IPA Website)

CPD involves pharmacy students in various public health activities. CPD also conducts various competitions for pharmacists during WPD or NPW.

Our Collaborations:

IPA-CPD is proud to have strong collaboration with various stakeholders. CPD collaborates with Government authorities, Chemist Associations, Regulators, Corporate Sector, NGOs, Academia , Pharmacy Council and IPA’s State and local branches for its pharmacists” training programs and projects aiming at continuing professional development of the community pharmacists. IPA CPD works all across India with pharma corporate sector including multinational and Indian companies to train pharmacists on various aspects such as Good Pharmacy Practices (GPP), Responsible Use of Medicines, Medication Errors, Patient Counselling and many other relevant areas. It collaborates with several pharmacy institutes across India to increase community centered activities through pharmacy students.

Advocacy with the Government:
Through IPA’s advocacy team, CPD takes up many issues with the Government related to Pharmacy profession. Advocacy letters sent to Government are available under Advocacy Corner on Home Page of IPA website.

CPD’s e-Bulletin:
IPA CPD publishes bi-monthly e-bulletin IPA CPD e-Times as an educative tool for the practicing pharmacist free of charge and it reaches all across India and across the globe as well. To subscribe to the e-Times or for any other information related to CPD, contact: manjirigharat@ipapharma.org or ipacpdetimes@gmail.com

Come, Join IPA and contribute to advancing of pharmacy profession in the country.

Office Bearers

Names	Positions
Mrs. Manjiri Gharat	Chairman
Mr. Raj Vaidya	Immediate Past Chairman
Dr. Guru Prasad Mohanta	Vice – Chairman
Mr. Satish M. Shah	Hon. Secretary
Mr. Ratnadeep Kurtarkar	Treasurer
Dr. Mrs. Rajani Shettigar	Member
Mahesh Kr. Gupta	Member
Mr. Sagar S. Kulkarni	Member
Ms. Anusha Bompelli	Member
Mrs. Dipti Srivastava	Member
Mr. Patel Suhaskumar Manibhai	Member
Mr. Nitin Maniar	Member
Mr. Santosh Ghodinde	Member
Yogendra Kanchapu	Member