Pharmacy Degree Policy Criticised

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31090, 20 June 1966, Page 14

Pharmacy Degree Policy Criticised

Government opposition to the introduction of the general degree course in pharmacy in New Zealand was completely against worldwide trends, said Mr A. M. Kelly, general secretary of the Pharmaceutical Association of Australia, at the general meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of New Zealand.

Mr Kelly said the Government’s opposition resulted from a failure to recognise the important world position of drug science.

The closed minds of the uninformed were a danger to progress in any country, he said. Although of the Martin Committee on Australian Tertiary Education were being quoted extensively by the Government as a basis for refusing degree status to New Zealand pharmacists, it was important to note that Sir Leslie Martin and his committee had not visited the Victorian College of Pharmacy before making their recommendations.

Mr Kelly urged the profession to keep striving for the ideal of a university degree in pharmacy for all those qualified to take the course. The latest proposal to petition Parliament for a further review of degree courses would be followed with a great deal of interest and sympathy in Australia. Mr Kelly considered that sooner or later the Government would face its obligations and introduce a degree course, “rather than persevere with the present outmoded diploma course at Petone.”