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New Delhi: The top medical body regulation has mandated that doctors must prescribe generic medicines to their patients in order to avoid penalties, including the possibility of having their licence to practise temporarily suspended.
Accoridng to a recent advisory released by the National Medical Commission (NMC), doctors should refrain from giving branded generic medications. Despite the fact that doctors must presently only administer generic medications, the regulations the Indian Medical Council released in 2002 do not include any penalties.
As per the NMC rules, generic medicine is 30 to 80 per cent cheaper than branded medicine. Hence, recommending generic medications might directly save healthcare expenditures and increase access to high-quality care.
According to the NMC, a generic medication is one that is ‘equivalent to a brand-name or reference listed drug in dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality and performance characteristics, and intended use.’ On the other hand, a branded generic drug is one that has lost its patent, is created by pharmaceutical companies, and is marketed by other companies.The law specified that every RMP (registered medical practitioner) must prescribe prescriptions using generic names written legibly and coherently, eliminating needless medications and illogical fixed-dose combo pills. A doctor may receive a warning for breaking the rules or be required to attend a workshop or academic course on ethics, interpersonal communication, and/or professional development in the event of infractions.
The regulations stated that a doctor’s licence to practise may be suspended for a specific amount of time after several infractions. These medications may be more expensive than the generic equivalent produced in bulk, yet less expensive than the branded patent version. The pricing of branded generic medications is subject to less regulatory oversight.
Only generic medications that are readily available to patients and on the market should be prescribed by doctors. The NMC regulation mandated that they promote hospitals and neighbourhood pharmacies stocking generic medications.
Doctor’s prescription rules
They should actively take part in initiatives to promote and increase access to generic medications, encourage patients to purchase medications from Jan Aushadhi Kendras and other generic pharmacy outlets, and inform the public and medical students about the comparability of generic and branded medications.
Prescriptions must be legible and, preferably, written in all capitals in accordance with the NMC’s mandate to prevent misunderstanding. Prescriptions should, if at all feasible, be typed and printed to prevent mistakes, it said
