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In its endeavor to make medicines accessible to the poor at a reasonable rate, the union government has urged the state governments to inform doctors at government dispensaries and hospitals to recommend medicines only by their generic names and not to go for the branded ones.
Srikant Jena, the union minister of state for chemicals and fertilizers, has sent a letter to the chief ministers and health ministers of several states urging them to observe how Rajasthan promoted prescription and use of generic medicines that are not branded.
It was written in Mr Jena’s letter that "As you are aware, unbranded generic medicines are basically low priced but equally efficacious in their potency for the treatment of diseases. However, the doctors tend to prescribe branded medicines for several reasons".
He said, "We want to make the treatment of various ailments cheaper with the use of generic medicines. The branded medicines are generally costlier. The generic drugs give the same results as the branded drugs. The difference between the generic medicine and the branded medicine is the cost. Even poor can easily afford generic medicines."
The government of Rajasthan took the lead in the nation by releasing circulars that rendered it compulsory for doctors in government-owned medical hospitals, medical colleges, community health centres, primary health centres and dispensaries in the state to recommend only generic medicines.
The circular also specified that special committees in every hospital associated with state-owned medical colleges will keep a tab on the doctors to see whether they are recommending generic drugs or branded medicines. Also, the government of Rajasthan has instructed all main medical officers in the state to furnish the registered medicine stores with an extensive list of generic drugs in their districts.
The district CMO will be accountable for any infringement of the recent order. Praising the measure adopted by the government of Rajasthan, Mr Jena hoped that the government of the various other states would make sure that government doctors recommend drugs by their generic names only. He said, "I hope that other state governments will also implement it at the earliest". The Economic Times
October 22, 2009
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