To prevent the doctors of the Government hospitals from prescribing branded medicines, the district administration has started a novel procedure of keeping carbon copy of the prescriptions at Raipur Community Health Centre (CHC). However, this practice is not being followed in other Government hospitals of the district.

In one of the most common method of minting unscrupulous  money the doctors of the Government hospitals ask the patients to purchase some or all medicines from the private chemists. The doctors do this to do a favour the drug manufacturing companies who offer hefty commissions to them in lieu of increasing their sales.

In Doon hospital, which is the biggest hospital of the state there are about 40 Out Patient Departments (OPDs) which cater more than 2500 patients daily. The administration of Doon hospital regularly issues orders to the doctors asking them to refrain from prescribing medicines and pathology tests from outside but this has not prevented some doctors from engaging in this practice. The government doctors regularly prescribe combination drugs (available in private medical stores) in their prescription even though individual medicines are available in the hospital free of cost.

The district administration recently asked the hospital management of Raipur CHC to keep a copy of the doctor’s prescription so that a watch on the type of medicines the doctors are prescribing is kept. This practice is now proving beneficial for the patients of this hospital as doctors are now shying away from writing medicines from outside.

Senior physician of the Doon hospital Dr Praveen Panwar said that if this practice is also followed in Doon hospital then it will help in maintaining transparency. The Principal Medical Superintendent of Doon hospital Dr R S Aswal said that the practice of keeping a carbon copy of the prescription would be followed in the hospital if the district administration orders for it.