Nov 9, 2009
School of Pharmacy, Kochi
A two-day international workshop on Pharmacoeconomics in Indian Healthcare recently concluded at the Amrita School of Pharmacy in Kochi.
Organized with the intention of imparting training on the subject to pharmacy professionals, research scholars, faculty and students of pharmacy, the workshop was attended by delegates from both Amrita as well as other universities.
In India, the subject is beginning to gain importance in industry and academia. As such, the workshop brought together experts to provide training on various topics.
Broadly speaking, pharmacoeconomics is the study of all economics-related aspects of pharmaceuticals. Drugs can be subject to several types of pharmacoeconomic analyses including cost-minimization, cost-benefit and cost-utility. These studies are essential to the optimal allocation of healthcare resources.
Dr. Rajesh Balakrishnan, the Director of the Centre for Medication Use, Policy and Economics at the University of Michigan was an invited speaker. Having participated in several research projects in pharmacoeconomic evaluation, he provided an overview of his research work.
Other external speakers included Dr Pippalla S Rao, (Principal, Vignan Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Andhra Pradesh), Dr Shobha Rani (Professor & HOD, Department of Pharmacy Practice, Al-Ameen College of Pharmacy, Bangalore) and Dr Jose VT (Department of Economics, Sacred Heart College, Kochi).
Dr KG Revikumar (Principal, Amrita School of Pharmacy, Kochi) and Dr KR Sundaram (Professor & HOD, Department of Biostatistics, Amrita School of Medicine) also spoke.
Sessions covered the following topics — Principles and Methods of Pharmacoeconomics, The Growing Need for Pharmacoeconomic Evaluations in India, Introduction to Quality of Life Domains, Statistical Methods in Pharmacy Education and Research, Assessment of Quality of Life in Patients: Scales and Methods, Spirituality, Religion and Personal Beliefs as Components of QOL of Patients, and Cost Effectiveness Analysis and its Applications.
In addition to these sessions, the workshop included a practical training session aimed at fostering greater participation in research projects based on pharmacoeconomic methodologies.
