International Conference of the Society of Pharmacovigilance, India: A Report by Syed Ziaur Rahman

The First International Conference of Society of Pharmacovigilance, India was held at S.N. Medical College, Agra during 8-9, February 2002. The organizing secretary was Dr. Shobha Kulshrestha, Professor and Chairman, Department of Pharmacology, S.N. Medical College, Agra.

In 1998, an idea was generated during the International Workshop on Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring to establish Pharmacovigilance as a distinct and influential clinical discipline in India. To give shape to this idea, a meeting of interested scientists took place at Lucknow at the time of the annual conference of Indian Pharmacological Society. Some decisions were taken at the meeting and as a follow up action society was registered under the Societies Registration Act XXI of 1860 at Ahmedabad. Prof. K. C. Singhal (J. N. Medical College, AMU, Aligarh) drafted the Memorandum of Association for the said society. After all formalities, it was decided to hold its first annual conference at Agra.

The announcement of the programme was made through circular letters to various Medical / Pharmacy Colleges, Pharmaceutical Industry, Health Care Administrators in India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. The information also appeared in Uppsala Reports published by WHO Collaborating Centre for International Drug Monitoring Uppsala, Sweden.

In spite of the fact that the Conference was being organized for the first time on Pharmacovigilance in India, 162 participants registered themselves as delegates including 4 foreign delegates.  If we compare the professional data, then 34 were consultants, 55 were academicians, 48 were private practitioners and 25 were Postgraduates. In addition, 17 were invited as resource persons.

The inauguration ceremony began with the lighting of the lamp at 10:00 AM. Dr. G.P. Saxena (Vice Chancellor, Agra University) was the chief guest and Prof. John Autian (Dean Emeritus and Former Vice Chancellor, University of Tennessee, Memphis, USA) was the guest of honour. Prof. K. C. Singhal (President of the Society) in his presidential address emphasized the need of concerted efforts for organized activities of Pharmacovigilance, monitoring adverse drug reactions (ADR), medical devices, drug abuse, counterfeit drugs, the need to dissociate the hazards caused by medical errors from the medical negligence and to revamp laws and judicial panel adjudication cases of alleged negligence against physicians. Prof. John Autian suggested that ADR Monitoring Center and Poison Centres should jointly be established in every medical institution and the findings and observations be published in newsletters and journals. Prof. Saxena stressed the following requirements: rational drug therapy, approaching poor population for providing effective medical care, conducting research and finding usefulness of Ayurvedic, Unani and Sidha Medicines in comparison with drugs of modern systems of medicine.

During the inauguration, Prof. John Autian gave a cheque of US $ 900 for establishing a prize for best paper presented by a young scientist at the annual conference of the Society of Pharmacovigilance. A Pre-Conference Publication (Proceedings) was also released in which articles from leading physicians / pharmacists engaged in Pharmacovigilance activity and consultants from WHO Centre for International Drug Monitoring in India and abroad are included.

The first John Autian Endowment Lecture was delivered by Prof. K.C. Singhal (Chairman Deptt. of Pharmacology, J.N. Medical College, AMU Aligarh and the president of the Society). Prof. John Autian has offered the endowment to the society for this lecture.

The deliberations of the conference were held in ten sessions. The eighth session was particularly designed to emphasize different aspects of Pharmacovigilance, while sessions 4 and 10 were dedicated for free papers. The deliberations aroused interest in the participants and very useful discussions took place especially with experts from WHO. The discussions were held in a friendly and healthy environment.

Overall the programme was highly educative and useful in updating knowledge of pharmacologist, pharmacists, General / Specialist practitioners, Academicians, medical teachers and consultants. It was very well organized. All delegates including foreign one were very happy and satisfied with all scientific sessions.

At the General Body Meeting, following members have been elected as the Office Bearers' of Society of Pharmacovigilance (India) on 8.9.2002: Dr. K. C. Singhal – President; Dr. Alice Kuruvilla - Vice-President; Dr. Shobha Kulshrestha - Vice-President; Dr. Sandeep Agarwal - Gen. Secretary; Dr. G. Parthasarthy – Editor; Dr. Naresh Khanna - Jt. Secretary; Dr. Pipasha Biswas - Secretary International Affairs; Dr. Govind Mohan – Treasurer; Dr. P. Savita - Member, EC; Dr. P. Sharma -Member, EC; Dr. Baruna Ganguly - Member, EC; Dr. S. P. Singh- Member, EC; Dr. V. K. Srivastava - Member, EC; Dr. Pawan Gupta – Member, EC.

To sum up the ideas thrown during the deliberations, we may stress the following: Pharmacovigilance is an emerging discipline. It is relatively new to India. Limited number of physicians, pharmacists and faculty members in medical colleges has awareness of methodologies and activities in the field of Pharmacovigilance. Experts both from outside India and within the country are actively engaged in facilitating efforts for rationale therapy, ADR monitoring, patient event monitoring, monitoring of medical errors and pharmacoepidemiology.

Pharmacovigilance activities should be carried out in coordinated manner under the auspices of Government agencies, apex hospitals and Society of Pharmacovigilance, India. Collaboration should be sought from WHO Centre for Adverse Drug Reaction Monitoring (Uppsala, Sweden) at levels other than National Centres to facilitate ADR monitoring and reporting. ADR Monitoring and other aspects of Pharmacovigilance should form a part of curriculum for medical undergraduate (MBBS.), Pharmacy (B. Pharma and M. Pharma) and postgraduate medical students (MD/MS).

Regional centres may be established for Pharmacovigilance activities. The main activities of these centres should be ADR Monitoring, Error Monitoring, Poison Information and to promote Rational Drug Therapy. General practitioners and specialists in private practice be involved in Pharmacovigilance activities.