‘Doctors Reluctant in Prescribing Unbranded Generic Medicines’

NEW DELHI:
Even though government is trying to push for unbranded generic drugs, the doctors are extremely reluctant in prescribing them, the Digital Health Platform (DHP), an association of major online pharmacies operating in India, said on Tuesday.
While inaugurating a charity hospital in Surat on April 17, 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi indicated that central government may bring in a legal framework under which doctors will have to prescribe unbranded generic medicines, which are cheaper than equivalent branded generic drugs, to patients. Consequently, the Medical Council of India (MCI) on April 21, 2017, told all practising doctors to prescribe unbranded generic drugs to patients “as far as possible”.
“One of the legal requirements for us is that the doctor has to prescribe the (unbranded) generic medicines and only then we can dispense them. We have been observing that the people (doctors) are extremely reluctant in prescribing generic medicines, even though government is trying to push for it,” said Prashant Tandon, president, Digital Health Platform, in New Delhi. Unbranded generic medicines are commonly called as “generic medicines” or “generic drugs”.
When Paracetamol is sold under the brand name ‘Calpol’ or ‘Sumo’, it is called a branded generic drug. But when it is sold as ‘paracetamol’ itself, it is called unbranded generic drug.