homehealthcare NewsIndian Medical Association raises concerns over NMC's new rules to prescribe generic drugs
Indian Medical Association raises concerns over NMC's new rules to prescribe generic drugs
IMA is yet to receive a response from the government regarding the letter it sent two days ago. The letter pertained to the NMC's new rules that have made it mandatory for doctors to prescribe generic drugs.
The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has raised concerns over the National Medical Commission’s (NMC) new rules that have made it mandatory for doctors to prescribe generic drugs. The IMA emphasised that quality control of generic drugs is weak in India and could be detrimental to a patient's health.
The NMC’s new rules will reduce healthcare cases significantly by around 30 to 80 percent, according to the government.
Sharad Kumar Agarwal, National President, IMA told CNBC-TV18 that patients’ life should not be compromised in order to reduce costs.
Under the new rules, the NMC requires doctors to prescribe generic drugs, or else they will be penalised. According to its notification, doctor’s licences will be suspended in case of repeated violations of the directives.
Agarwal said, “When the NMC is saying that doctors should only prescribe the generic medicine, they should give the surety that the quality of generic medicine should be at par with the branded medicine. They should ensure that the bioavailability of the medicine in the blood should be at par with the branded medicine.”
Agarwal pointed out that the NMC's new rules call for doctors to write only the generic term or component instead of the medicine's name along with the brand name.
“They are giving that right to a shopkeeper who probably doesn’t understand pharmacology because all the chemist shops don't have 24x7 pharmacists. So this is illogical. As per the rule in India, all the medicines have to be sold on the legitimate prescription of a registered medical practitioner (RMP),” Agarwal added.
Agarwal questioned the government on the need for the production of branded drugs if NMC is prohibiting the RMPs from selling anything other than generic medications. The government has other means to reduce the MRPs of medicines instead of asking the RMPs to sell only generic drugs, Agarwal told CNBC-TV18.
The execution of the NMC’s rules should have been discussed with the IMA, Agarwal stated. IMA has not received a reply from the government on the letter that it had sent to the government two days ago.
“It (NMC’s new rules) will be disastrous for the country, for the healthcare system of the country and that is why we are opposing and recommending and requesting the government to please have a look at that,” IMA National President.
The IMA is ready to have a discussion with the government as these rules are disastrous for the country, according to Agarwal.
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