Although passing regular instructions to medical officers not to prescribe branded life-saving drugs to patients is a regular feature, prescribing branded medicines to patients has become a perennial problem in Government-run health centres.
Despite the fact, Government-run Jan-Aushadhi centres are running in the Government hospitals, referring patients to private chemists by the medical officers has turned perennial problem for the hospital administration to keep a tab on them.
All those patients who visit Government-run district hospitals, community health centres, primary health centres and health centre are continuously being referred to private run chemist shops which are running adjoining Government hospitals.
Despite the fact that strict monitoring on the medical officers is being done for prescribing generic medicines in order to assist patients who visit Government establishments and to avoid the burden on their pockets, the reality could be easily gauged by the fact that long serpent lines of relatives of patients is easily noticed at sale counter of private chemist shops.
Sources revealed that the department is also planning to take stringent action against those medical officers who prescribe expensive branded medicines other than Jan Aushadhi centres operating in the Government run hospitals across the State. “Prescribing more number of generic medicines instead of one branded medicines by the medical officers to seriously ill patients will surely reduce the burden on their pockets,” he reiterated.
According to him, Jan Aushadhi centres offer all life saving drugs at much cheaper price instead of those medicines available at private chemists operating around the Government hospitals. In an exclusive interaction with The Pioneer, Dr JS Pangti claimed that medical officers have started prescribing generic life-saving drugs which are undoubtedly much cheaper than branded expensive medicines available in the private chemist shops.
“I have asked for the show cause notice to one of the medical officers, who prescribed expensive life-saving drugs to patient at remotely situated dispensary at Tharali,” he said, adding that medical officers were found prescribing Government supply medicines at Pauri during surprise visit to the mountainous parts of the State.
He said that Chief Medical Officers of all the 13 districts of Uttarakhand and Chief Medical Superintendents of district hospitals are regularly instructed to keep a tab on those medical officers who prescribe costly branded medicines to patients. Dr Pangti also claimed that strict department action would be surely taken against those medical officers found guilty of prescribing expensive branded life-saving drugs to patients.