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| Making available Generic Medicines | | | Vinod Chandrashekhar Dixit | 9/15/2018 10:38:39 PM |
| It is a welcome decision by Modi government to bring in a legal framework under which the doctors will have to prescribe generic medicines, which are cheaper than equivalent branded drugs, to patients."PM Modi has rightly said that "Doctors write prescriptions in such a way that poor people do not understand the handwriting, and he has to buy medicines from private stores at high prices." The Prime Minister's recent announcement on making it mandatory for doctors to prescribe only the generic name, and not brand name of a drug, has led to a flicker.
Promoting generic industry is good but we should not just produce generic drugs but also produce quality generic drugs as it is a matter of people's lives. It is generally true that generic name products are less expensive than their brand equiv alents. It is reported that 90% of the domestic Indian pharmaceutical market consists of sale of branded products. If government implements a rule that doctors must prescribe only generic names, a patient will, in most cases, still end up buying a branded drugs as generic medicines have low margins. It is rightly pointed out that since advertisement of prescription medicines are not allowed in India, companies or medical representatives push their products through doctors, chemists and distributors in lieu of freebies, junkets and incentives.
There are myths about generic drugs and people think that generic drugs are misbranded because of change in the color, taste, appearance than original (ethical drug). But alterations of the color, taste, appearance is the part of the generic formulations and they are not misbranded.while some think that due to their change is the brand name or shape of the of dosage shape packing, some may think the drugs are duplicate.It is also being thought that due to cheap price of the generic drugs, it is generally thought that generic drugs are rejected form the company that is why they are selling for the low price. It must be emended in new regulation that every physician should prescribe drugs with generic names legibly and preferably in capital letters and he/she shall ensure there is a rational prescription and use of drugs. The generic medicines if available across the medical shops it will be welcomed by one and all and in one way we can stop MNC companies looting our money in the name of Brands. We also need strict rules for doctors and hospitals charging high rates and doctors prescribing unnecessary test, x-rays, MRI scans, etc just so that the hospital can increase their revenues. |
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