Entry Level Qualification 

Class 12

Career Fields 

Medical Services

For Specially Abled 

Career Entrance Exam 

NEET UG, GPAT

About Career 

As a Pharmacist, you will be working at pharmacy stores, clinics, hospitals, dispensaries, Health Management Organizations (HMOs), etc. to dispense medicines according to physician’s prescriptions. Your job may include providing pharmacological information (information related to uses, effects, and modes of action of drugs) to patients and customers by answering questions related to healthcare and counseling patients regarding drug therapies. You will need to interpret physicians’ orders and thereby detect therapeutic incompatibilities or suggest similar drugs in store. You need to make sure that all the medicines are well-packed, compounded, and properly labeled.

You will be ordering and purchasing medicines and various medical supplies such as bandages, vaporizers, etc., and will be responsible for maintaining stock as well as storing and handling it properly. You may need to pre-pack orders for bulk medicines and respond to telephone calls and queries. You need to assist customers by answering simple questions and locating items from storage locations. If your work is related to alternative medicine, you may have to prepare, mix, or amalgamate proper ingredients in accurate quantities according to dosage instructions received from alternative medicine practitioners like homeopaths, Ayurvedic doctors, Unani practitioners, etc, or from manufacturing facilities.

Key Roles and Responsibilities

As a Pharmacist, you will be engaged with one or more of the following roles and responsibilities: -

1. Receiving written prescriptions or refill requests from customers/patients/ nurses, interpreting prescriptions, and dispensing appropriate medications.

2. Maintaining proper security and storage conditions for drugs.

3. Assisting customers by answering simple questions and locating items from storage facilities.

4. Answering telephones and responding to questions or requests.

5. Operating blood pressure meters or monitors, identifying and using first aid equipment, giving injections, booking orders, identifying and arranging medicines.

6. Ordering, labeling, and counting stock of chemicals, medications, or supplies and maintaining as well as updating digital/virtual inventory databases.

7. Receiving and storing incoming supplies as well as verifying quantities against invoices.

8. Checking for outdated medications or supplies or expirations in current inventory and informing supervisors about stock needs and shortages.

9. Cleaning and helping to maintain equipment or work areas and sterilizing glassware when required.

10. Establishing or maintaining patient profiles with lists of medications taken by individual patients, when working in a hospital/nursing home.

Career Entry Pathway 

Class 10 all subjects as per the scheme of studies – Class 11-12 Physics, Chemistry, and Biology along with any other subject as per the scheme of studies – Diploma in Pharmacy - Registration under PCI.

After Class 11-12, you can do a Diploma in ‘Pharmacy’. After you obtain this Diploma you have to register yourself as a Registered Pharmacist as per the norms under the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI). For this, you will have to apply and register yourself with a State Pharmacy Council. Without registration, you are not allowed to practice as a Pharmacist.

After your Class 11-12, you can enroll for a B.Pharma. Program (of 4 years) duration or do a Bachelor's degree in Pharmaceutical Sciences/Pharmaceutical Technology/a similar field. After your Bachelor's degree, you should register yourself with a State Pharmacy Council under the norms of the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI). Registration is a must for practicing as a Pharmacist in India.

Required Qualification & Competencies 

After class 10, you can do the following:

1. Finish Class 11-12  with Physics, Chemistry, and Biology/Mathematics along with any other subject as per the scheme of studies

After Class 11-12, you can go for:

1. B.Pharm. in Pharmacy

2. B.Pharm. in Pharmaceutical Sciences

3. B.Pharm. Tech. in Pharmaceutical Technology

Competencies Required

1. You should have an interest in Investigative Occupations. Investigative occupations involve working with ideas and quite a lot of thinking, often abstract or conceptual thinking. These involve learning about facts and figures; involve the use of data analysis, assessment of situations, decision-making, and problem-solving.

2. You should have an interest in Conventional Occupations. Conventional occupations involve repetitive and routine tasks as well as fixed processes or procedures for getting things done. These occupations involve working more with data, systems, and procedures and less with ideas or creativity.  

3. You should have an interest in Social Occupations. Social occupations involve helping or assisting others; these involve working with and communicating with people to provide various services; these may involve educating and advising others.

4. You should know about Healthcare Science and Services - different fields that are related to offering various types of healthcare services to people; different practices apart from medicine which are used to treat and prevent human diseases or to provide holistic healthcare and wellness; drugs and medicines.

5. You should know about Customer Service - how to provide customer services. This includes understanding customer needs, helping customers to use products and services, answering customer queries, handling customer complaints and grievances, and evaluating customer satisfaction.

6. You should have Active Listening Skills -Giving full attention to what other people are saying, understanding the points being made by others, asking questions, etc.

7. You should have Service Orientation Skills - to help and assist people.

8. You should have Judgment and Decision Making Skills - considering the pros and cons of various decision alternatives; considering costs and benefits; making appropriate and suitable decisions.

9. You should have Reading Comprehension Ability –understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work-related documents.

10. You should have Problem Solving Ability - analysis and understanding of problems, evaluating various options to solve the problems, and using the best option to solve the problems.

11. You should have Deductive Reasoning Ability - apply general rules and common logic to specific problems to produce answers that are logical and make sense. For example, understanding the reasons behind an event or a situation using general rules and common logic.

Career - Job Opportunities & Profiles 

1. You will get job opportunities as an Assistant Pharmacist in a hospital pharmacy store or retail pharmacy store.

2. You need to register yourself with a State Pharmacy Council as per the norms under the Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) if you want to carry out your own business as a druggist (which means open up a medicine shop) or practice as a pharmacist with a retail pharmacy or hospital pharmacy. You also need to renew your registration regularly after paying an annual fee.

Specialisation Tracks In This Career

1. Hospital Pharmacist

Hospital Pharmacists work in hospitals. They work in coordination with the nurses to make sure that the right medicine in the right dosage is dispensed to the patients. They read doctors' and surgeons' prescriptions and dispense the medicines as per the prescriptions. They also maintain the stock of medicines in the hospitals in which they work.

2. Retail Pharmacist

Retail Pharmacists work in retail medicine stores. They read doctors' prescriptions and dispense the medicines to the buyers as per the prescriptions. They also dispense over-the-counter drugs (drugs or medicines that do not need a doctor's prescription. They maintain the stock of medicines in retail stores.

Career Growth

You can certainly progress to become a Pharmacist, then a Senior Pharmacist, and finally a Store Manager/Chief Pharmacist in any retail pharmacy or a hospital pharmacy.

Salary Offered  

1. Salaries vary according to job profiles and the kind of facilities you get to work at.

2. In entry-level jobs: You may get about Rs. 12,000 – Rs. 28,000 or more per month.

3. Salaries increase with your work experience and as you get promoted.

4. After having 1-6 years of experience, you may expect about Rs. 15,000 – Rs. 30,000 per month or more.

5. After having 6-12 years of experience, you may get about Rs. 20,000 – Rs. 35,000 or more per month.

6. In senior-level jobs, with 12-20 years of work experience, you may expect to get about Rs. 25,000 – Rs. 1,60,000 or more per month.

7. The higher salaries are offered at Government Hospitals and other healthcare facilities.

Monthly Earnings In Indian Rupee

1. Entry level: 0 - 2 years of work experience

2. Junior Level: From 1 to 12 years of work experience

3. Mid-Level: From 5 to 20+ years of work experience

4. Senior Level: From 10 to 25+ years of work experience (there could be exceptions in some high-end technical, financial, engineering, creative, management, sports, and other careers; also shortly, people will reach these levels much faster in many careers and some careers, these levels will have no meaning as those careers will be completely tech skill driven such as even now, there is almost no level in a Cyber Security Expert’s job)

Famous Personalities 

Not Available

Work Activities 

1. Getting Information and learning– Observing, hearing, reading, using computers, or otherwise obtaining information and learning from it.

2. Communicating with customers– Communicating with customers of your organization verbally or otherwise.

3. Working directly with people– Working directly with people to offer them products and services, assisting, etc.

4. Using computers for work - Using computers for day-to-day office work; using computer software for various applications in day-to-day professional work; entering data and processing information; for writing.

5. Processing information - Searching, compiling, tabulating, calculating, auditing, verifying, or otherwise dealing with information processing including data entry, transcription, recording, storing, and maintaining databases.

6. Organising, planning, and prioritizing tasks - Planning and organizing tasks to achieve work goals; prioritizing tasks to achieve goals and making the best use of the time available.

7. Providing advice and consultation to others - Giving suggestions to others about various drugs, pharmaceutical compositions, or related matters to customers.