The National Medical Council’s (NMC) recent regulation which mandates doctors to prescribe only generic medicines has not gone down well with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) which has called for its deferment for wider consultations even as it urged the Centre’s intervention.
The IMA, which represents private doctors from across the country, also flagged concerns over the standard of drugs manufactured in India as less than 0.10 per cent are tested for quality. In a statement, the association also questioned the NMC move, stating that if doctors are not allowed to prescribe branded drugs, then why should such drugs be licensed at all? The NMC in its “regulations relating to professional conduct of registered medical practitioners” stated that all doctors must prescribe generic drugs, failing which they will be penalised and their licence may be suspended for a period.
It also asked doctors to avoid prescribing branded generic drugs. The IMA said, “The biggest impediment to generic drugs is the uncertainty about their quality. Quality control in the nation being very weak, there is practically no guarantee of the quality of drugs and prescribing drugs without assured quality would be detrimental to patient health”.
“Less than 0.1 per cent of the drugs manufactured in India are tested for quality. This step should be deferred till the Government can assure the quality of all the drugs released into the market. Patient care and safety are not negotiable,” it said. The IMA appealed to the Government to have a “one drug, one quality, one price” system whereby all brands should be either sold at the same price which should be controlled or banned and only generic medicines allowed while ensuring highest quality of these drugs.