While Medical Council of India (MCI) has prohibited doctors from accepting gifts, travel facilities, hospitality and cash or monetary grants from pharmaceutical and allied healthcare companies, but there is no law to restrict these companies from doling out freebies.
The Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare (ADEH), a national network of doctors from various specialities committed to promoting ethical and rational healthcare, have now criticised the ‘double standard’ of having different rules for the doctors and the pharma companies.
“The freebies add up to the cost of out of pocket expenditure on the healthcare by the patients. It is a well known fact that many pharmaceutical companies offer bribes (the so called incentives) to promote their products.
“A glaring example of this is flyers which had been allegedly distributed by one Pharma company in one national conference to incentivise doctors to prescribe its vaccines- “Get a digital weighing machine free for an order of 100IJ or ‘five-gram gold coin for orders of 150”, said Dr GS Grewal , former president of the Punjab Medical Council (PMC) and Dr Arun Mitra, senior vice president Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD).
The ADEH members have written to the Chairman Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to reverse the decision of the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) which has granted tax relief to a pharma company on `23 crore freebies to doctors.
“This is a very disturbing decision as it will justify corruption by the pharmaceutical companies in promoting their products,” the ADEH said.
It also pointed out the CBDT circular of August, 2012 highlighting that expenditure incurred for providing freebies by the pharmaceutical and allied healthcare sector industry or any tax payer shall be inadmissible U/S 37(1) of the Act being an expenditure prohibited by law.
“In the light of this, the decision of the appellate authority is violation of its own act and is contrary to the very objective of natural justice to provide healthcare to all,” the organisation claimed.
They also rued that the Government has not been able to make mandatory the Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices for pharma manufacturers till date. This code when implemented will prohibit the pharma companies from giving freebies.