Educational visit to Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC), Ghaziabad
Introduction-
Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC) is an Autonomous Institution of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Govt. of India. IPC is created to set standards of drugs in the country. Its basic function is to update regularly the standards of drugs commonly required for treatment of diseases prevailing in this region. It publishes official documents for improving Quality of Medicines by way of adding new and updating existing monographs in the form of Indian Pharmacopoeia (IP). It further promotes rational use of generic medicines by publishing National Formulary of India. IP prescribes standards for identity, purity and strength of drugs essentially required from health care perspective of human beings and animals. IPC also provides IP Reference Substances (IPRS) which act as a finger print for identification of an article under test and its purity as prescribed in IP.
Institution Departments-
Standards Developments, Analytical Research Department, Quality Assurance, Publications & Documentation
Institution Operational Programme-
Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC),The National Formulary of India (NFI), IP Reference Substances (IPRS), Analytical Research and Development (AR&D), Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI), Materiovigilance Programme of India(MvPI).
Visit Information-
Today students from our faculty specifically B. Pharma (3rd, 4th year) & M. Pharma (2nd year) along with our respected teachers Ms. Monika Duhan Mam, Ms. Minakshi Mam, Ms. Sonam Mam and Ms. Rimpy Mam visited the IPC Institution, Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.
Firstly, we were welcomed to the IPC institution by Ms. Shweta Mam and then some basic information provided about IPC, Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI), Materiovigilance Programme of India (MvPI) & Hemovigilance Programme of India (HvPI) by Ms. Shweta Mam Quality Assurance department, Ms. Ayushi Yadav Mam Pharmacovigilance Associate (NCC), Ms. Nikita Mam Materiovigilance Associate (NCC).
After the information session all of us interacted with Ms. Smrita Mishra Mam incharge of Phytopharmaceutical department laboratory. She told us the introduction and objective about the Phytopharmaceutical and showing the instruments used by the department like High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), High performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC), Column chromatography and many others.
Next all of us interacted with Mr. Sachin kumar Sir incharge of Microbiology department. He told us the introduction and objective of microbiology laboratory and showing few instruments like Autoclave, Sterility chambers, Storage fridge and few Sample testing culture media.
After informative study of instruments, we are visit in IPC library in which the library incharge introduce us about various countries Pharmacopoeia like Indian Pharmacopoeia, United States Pharmacopoeia, National Formulary of India etc. of various editions. In last all of us visited the canteen section where some snacks were offered to us and after that we clicked photographs outside the IPC building with IPC Members.
Conclusion-
In conclusion, the visit to IPC was highly informative and provided valuable insights of operation performed by Indian Pharmacopoeia Commission (IPC). The IPC is well managed and the utilization of advanced technology is great. The staff is very experienced and provided us an overview of the various services they offer. Now, they provide internships to the M. Pharma Students. At last the visit was a great learning experience and we recommend that similar visits be made in the future to other government and private institution in order to gain a better understanding of our roles & responsibilities.
