Sunday, August 3, 2014

My talk for freshers at a pharmacy college

On 1.8.2014, I had the privilege and pleasure to address fresher pharmacy students and parents at Dayanand Sagar College of Pharmacy (DSCP), Bangalore.


This college is now a well-sought after pharmacy college.  The kind invitation came from Dr. Murugan M Pharma PhD, Principal, DSCP, Bangalore, a progressive and competitive person, who wants to develop this pharmacy college into a prime academic force of our noble profession.

Here we see Dr. Murugan, Principal, DSCP, Bangalore addressing the audience:


The pharmacy college belongs to a well-established group of Bangalore:


The idea of my participation was to build confidence, give insights and motivate: fresher students and parents:


Along with an attractive speech, I provided the main content of my talk as a leave-behind to each attendee:


The main points were as follows:

The following points were given in my speech and leave-behind, for confidence-building.  My talk included good jokes and anecdotes to illustrate the thrust points.  My talk was well-received.

The main idea of the first part of the talk, was to give a bird's-eye view of the status of pharmaceutical industry including its relation with world-business.


India: Pharmacy of the world!

       Indian pharmaceutical goods are recognized for quality and price innovation across the globe: India is the world’s third largest pharma market in terms of volume; as per AIOCD AWACS June 2014 MAT report, retail pharma business is Rs. 77529 crores and value growth was 6.7% (and exports of about Rs. 65000 crores)
       India has more than: 4.5 lakh doctors, 7 lakh pharmacies , 20,000 pharma companies, 200 US FDA approved manufacturing facilities and 2 lakh medical representatives
       India is making the mark in bio-medicines with MABs, rDNA products and other ‘similar biologics’ (Biocon, Strides, IPCA…) & also with indigenous healthcare products
       Medical tourism is boosting global Pharma India
       Cipla has saved 1 crore lives in Africa through their affordable anti -AIDS medicines: India makes 92% of anti-AIDS medications sold world-wide
       Lupin is the 5th largest generic pharma company in US prescription market as per wikipedia; fastest growing in Japan and S Africa; global leader in anti TB bulk drugs and formulations and in 2012 Sun was the 9th biggest generic pharmaceutical company in USA 

       There are global job opportunities for pharmacists: Egs.: in community pharmacies of Gulf; Pharma marketing across the globe – for instance, Sun Pharma has two regional managers in Myanmar (Sun is the No. 1 pharma company in Myanmar and Indian companies control 60% of the  Myanmar pharma market; SUN IS NO. 1 IN INDIA TOO!)

Below is a graphic of the Indian pharmaceutical industry revenues:


The inspiring growth of pharmaceutical exports: 


The next part of my speech was directed to students on how to take advantage of their four to six year study time in this campus; after all, they are giving their beautiful youth years for pharmaceutical learning:

Framework for success
WELCOME TO SUCCESS!

q  Welcome to the global noble profession of Pharmacy

q  Enthusiasm (intense positive emotional energy born from unconditional self-love)
In this part of the speech, I talked about the importance of having enthusiasm come-what-may, so that each individual is able to put in his/her best for learning and be happy

q  Not just exam centered learning strategy: have a career centered learning strategy:
It is unfortunate but true that most students make the mistake of having an exam oriented learning strategy (the focus is only to pass or get good grades).  However, it is more advantageous to have a career oriented learning strategy so that the learnings' enhance employability and create career success.  (I also gave several examples from my work experience)

q  Build the 3 Cs continuously: CHARACTER (reliability), COMPETENCE AND COMMITMENT

q  Learn and practice: memorization techniques and  creative communication (messaging) process (active listening, body language (non-verbal communication), oral and written: conversational communication, inter-gender communication, dyad communication and group communication)
I gave some interesting examples of why communication is vital in marketing or other departments.  I also illustrated importance of memorization techniques like mnemonics.

q  Follow your cultural values and upbringing: do not cross the Lakshman rekha (remember the love that your parents have for you - always)
I exhorted the importance of not crossing the line in student-life, to repent later!

q  Inculcate and practice humility: you will always be fearless and approachable  - you will always have the will and confidence to approach others whenever required; you will be able to tolerate people who give you pain during interactions and finally find strength to transact with them for mutual benefit

q  Be  cheerful, spread cheer,  be self-defensive and cautious

I thank: Dr. Muruganji, Principal, Dayanand Sagar College of Pharmacy, Bangalore, Dr. Geetaji, Prof. and HOD of Pharmacology, and team DSCP: for the kind hospitality and experience.  
I thank you all for reading this blogpost, hope it was useful and interesting, and I request readers to scroll down and read all other blogposts: do click on older posts to read other write-ups, feel free to recommend this blog to your friends.