In violation of the Hippocratic
Oath taken by medical practitioners, the nexus between doctors and
pharmaceutical companies continues unabashedly, with doctors prescribing
branded medicines based on a higher rate of commission instead of taking
into account the quality of medicines. Doctors are not supposed to
prescribe anything but generic names of drugs.
They keep experimenting with drugs on a trial-anderror basis making guinea
pigs out of patients.
Dr E. Sai Prasad, former
honorary secretary general of Indian Medical Association said, “In the
absence of any check on the nexus between pharmaceutical companies and
doctors, such practices exist widely and lot of lacunae prevail.
However, doctors aren't supposed to prescribe any branded drugs to
patients, but prescribe generic names only. When for a greater commission,
they prescribe drugs from a lesser known company, chances are high that
quality may be compromised. Again, repeatedly changing drugs if one set of
medicines fails to work rapidly can be detrimental to patients, who can
develop resistance to the antibiotics.“
Dr C. Hemanth, senior general
physician, Yashoda Hospital added, “One of the reasons for doctors
prescribing branded drugs is the non-availability of generic drugs on wider
scale. Compared to thousands of drug stores in cities, there are hardly one
or two generic drug stores or Jeevandhara stores.“ `Generic drugs need to
be prescribed' `Changes in government policies and price ceiling on drugs
is needed for the consumers' benefit.
Doctors should be made to prescribe generic drugs of reputed firms with
good market share, so that quality is not compromised, said Syamala Rao,
founder of Jeevandhara concept in AP.
SOURCE: DC
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