'Regulatory Compliance At The Shop Floor Is A Key Gap That Needs To Be Bridged'

Hemant Deshpande, Managing Partner, Pollux Life Science Solutions, in an interaction with Viveka Roychowdhury, elaborates on the skill gap between academia and industry and how Pollux's three level skilling programme, ‘Emerge – A success Elevator’ will help bridge this gap

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By your estimates, where are the most crucial skill gaps in the Indian pharmaceutical / life sciences sector today?

In Indian context, the exclusive focus during academic sessions is on conceptual knowledge without much reference to the application of the concepts and its relevance in business environment as is the practice in developed countries. To put it in simplistic terms, it is like training a driver of a car or a pilot of an aircraft on a simulator and putting him on job without internship or finishing school.

On the other hand, the industry expects the application of the concepts, thorough understanding of the process, dos and dont’s about handling of equipment identification and handling the exceptions.

To my mind, the most crucial and significant gap in Indian pharmaceutical / life sciences sector today is at the manufacturing stage loaded with critical regulatory compliance. Needless to say, with maximum US FDA approved manufacturing plants outside the US being in India, we have the benefit of carrot by way of remunerative revenue but also face the stick during regulatory inspections for a solitary error made in isolation by a fresh or relatively young pharmacy entrant at the shop floor. In revenue terms, this not only impacts the image of the company and industry but also the country as destination. I think regulatory compliance at the shop floor is a key gap that needs to be bridged by equipping the staff with skills among several others.

While, skill gap between the academia and industry has always been a subject of a frequent debate, it has only received the necessary attention after Life Science Sector Skill Development Council (LSSSDC) incubated by Ministry of Skill Development stepped in.

How is this impacting the prospects of both the industry as well as professionals who have chosen to make their careers in this sector?