NEW DELHI: Doctors prescribing non-generic drugs will soon land in hot water. The National Medical Commission (NMC) in a notification dated August 2 advised doctors to prescribe only generic drugs, failing which they would be penalised and may even see their license to practice suspended. Though it has been mandatory for doctors to prescribe only generic drugs, until now, the violators did not face action.
In its notification titled ‘Regulations relating to Professional Conduct of Registered Medical Practitioners’, the NMC said India’s out-of-pocket spending on medications accounts for a major proportion of public spending on healthcare.
“Generic medicines are 30 to 80 per cent cheaper than branded drugs. Hence, prescribing generic medicines may overtly bring down healthcare costs and improve access to quality care,” it said.
In case of the first violation, a doctor may be given a warning and instructed to attend a workshop or academic programme on ethics, personal and social relations, and/or professional training. On repeated violations, the doctor’s license to practice may be suspended, the notification said.
Under the regulations on prescription guidelines, the commission defined generic medicines as a “drug product that is comparable to brand/ reference listed product in dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality and performance characteristics, and intended use.”
The commission also asked doctors to avoid prescribing branded generic drugs.
Under the generic medicine and prescription guidelines of the regulations, the NMC defined generic medicines as a "drug product that is comparable to brand/reference listed product in dosage form, strength, route of administration, quality and performance characteristics, and intended use."
On the other hand, a branded generic drug is one which has come off patent and is manufactured by drug companies and sold under different companies' brand names.
These drugs may be less costly than the branded patent version but costlier than the bulk-manufactured generic version of the drug. There is less regulatory control over the prices of branded generic drugs.