PHARMACY PROFESSIONS IN INDIADURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC: PRESENT STATUS, FUTURE CHALLENGES AND A WAY FORWARD

People in every country became exposed to COVID-19 pandemic and cannot able to find a right solution and strategies to overcome from it Pharmacy is the most important, dynamic and versatile health care profession in the world, whereas its scope and importance are always being emerging at any situation Pharmacy professionals (PPs) working proactively for the public even in this pandemic situation Since dependency is high, the responsibility and preference also high for PPs especially in this pandemic situation Current status in pharmacy education and emerging future challenges of PPs in all aspects, particularly in this pandemic situation were addressed based on observational studies among various pharma industries and published news of Pharmacy Council of India (PCI) While in the development phase it has crossed many barriers, not only in the economic level, but also involves regulations, duration, process controls, legal hurdles and situational defects The purpose of this review discusses the evolution and updates in pharmacy, education, pharmacy practice, regulations, and types of challenges along with recommendations for PPs in India in light of the COVID-19 pandemic This review was carried out to summarize knowledge about the updates and challenges in pharmacy professions in all aspects Sources were retrieved from relevant guidelines and published articles in Google scholar, Pubmed and Science direct of articles up to June 2020 The keywords used for gathering information were listed below © 2021 The Authors