MODERN SCHOOL FOR PHARMACY STUDENTS

Press, Volume C, Issue 29691, 8 December 1961, Page 23

MODERN SCHOOL FOR PHARMACY STUDENTS

tremendous growth in the fields of medical r^ sea .j M ? nd the discovery of new drugs to combat age-old illnesses and diseases has brought an ever increasing demand on the skills of pharmacists who ha\e to dispense the drugs and medicines. Handling drugs and mixing medicines is not merely a simple matter of being able to read labels and . doctors handwriting. Knowledge and skill acquired by study and practice are necessary. The New Zealand School of Pharmacy at 1 etone is the training ground for New Zealand pharmacists. Opened m February, 1960, the school is part of the Central Technical College and is “ m J"!?J ere d by the principal of the college, Mr E. vV. Mills.

The school itself contains specially designed and well-equipped laboratories and ancillary rooms for each subject of the course. In addition there is a threetiered lecture room which holds all the students for each year. The laboratories contain the modem equipment needed for such a diversified and demanding subject and soon a specially equipped research laboratory will be completed. The head of the School of Pharmacy is Dr. G. S. Cox, a highly qualified pharmacologist, who was formerly a lecturer of the School of Pharmacy in the University of London. In their first year students study chemistry, physics and biology. Most of the students already have a grounding in these subjects from their school studies as well as a solid background

in mathematics. The study of science subjects occupies much of the pharmacy students first year. Then in the second year students study pharmacognosy, which is the study of the plants from which some drugs are obtained; pharmaceutics, the study of the preparation of drugs into suitable forms of administration to patients; pharmaceutical chemistry, the study of the chemistry of drugs, and pharmacology, which is the study of the manner in which drugs act on humans and animals.

When the students pass the qualifying examinations after the intensive two-year course they are then eligible to enter into a two-year apprenticeship. After the completion of the apprenticeship the trainee can then apply to the Pharmacy Board of New Zealand for registration. The start of the new system of pharmacy education at the school at Petone has superseded the college in Wellington controlled by the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand. This college which was taken over by the society in 1944 after having been conducted privately for 11 years will continue in existence only as long as is necessary to allow existing students to qualify under conditions

that obtained at the time of entry. Allied with the new school at Petone a fouryear degree course in pharmacy at the University of Otago started in the same year. It is proposed that graduates will be required to serve one year’s apprenticeship before becoming eligible for registration as chemists.