This is not the first time that advice, guidelines and directives have been issued in the matter, but compliance has been poor.
The National Medical Commission (NMC) has done well to take steps to better enforce the use of generic medicines by issuing fresh guidelines on it. It has directed doctors to prescribe generic drugs as the norm, instead of branded drugs. This is not …
Doctors will now have to prescribe only generic medicines, except for cases where medicines have a narrow therapeutic index – drugs where a small difference in dosage may lead to adverse outcomes – and in other exceptional cases. The guidelines have …
The enforcement of the guidelines will make a big difference to patients with respect to their out-of-pocket expenditure. Branded drugs are much more expensive than generic drugs and they are supported by large-scale commercial promotion by pharma co…