New Delhi (Agency): On Monday, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) made a call to halt the new regulations requiring doctors to prescribe generic drugs. Their main concern is the quality of generic drugs manufactured in India. According to their data, less than 0.10 per cent of these drugs undergo quality testing.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) had recently passed a rule. According to this rule, all registered medical practitioners should prescribe generic drugs. If doctors don’t follow this, they could face penalties. Their medical license could even be suspended for some time. The NMC also recommended that doctors shouldn’t prescribe branded generic drugs.
However, the IMA strongly voiced its concerns. They stated, “The biggest impediment to generic drugs is the uncertainty about their quality.” Because of weak quality control in the country, there’s no real guarantee about the drug’s quality. The IMA believes that prescribing drugs without assured quality can harm patients. They added, “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.”
In their view, if the government truly supports generic drugs, it should focus on the pharmaceutical industry instead. The IMA thinks the government should ban all branded drugs. They point out that the government currently allows different drug categories like branded and branded generic. This lets pharmaceutical companies sell the same medicine at varying prices. “Such loopholes in law should be plugged,” urged the doctors.
The IMA’s statement also read, “The ill-advised steps taken by NMC on the issue of generic drugs is an emergency. Generic promotion needs to be genuine.” They questioned the logic behind licensing branded drugs if doctors can’t prescribe them. Especially when only doctors can prescribe modern medicines. They noted, “Making quality brands available in market but disallowing doctors who are responsible for patients’ health from prescribing them seems dubious.”
The IMA suggested a solution. They proposed a “one drug, one quality, one price” system. This means all drug brands would be sold at a uniform price, which should be controlled. If not, then only generic drugs should be allowed, but their quality must be of the highest standard.