Dr K K Aggarwal

A New helpline policy from MOH

Yesterday I was interviewed by Zee TV on the upcoming MOH policy of bringing a helpline for the patients wherein they can text a message to a particular number and the return message would give the prices of five brands of the drug salt prescribed to the patient. If this is the policy that the government is planning, it is clearly wrong.

1. If the intention is that doctor should write cheaper brands of drugs, then why are expensive brands given license to be sold?
2. Doctors only prescribe a brand that has been approved by the Drug Controller of India (DCI).
3. If a particular brand is approved by DCI then why discourage the doctors to not write those brands.
4. If the intention is to provide cheaper brands in India then are why so many brands approved. Only one brand can be permitted like in the United States and that can be put under price control.
5. If this would be the policy, then the Chemists/Pharmacists will become the ‘Doctors’ and decision makers as they may inform the patient they have brands that are still cheaper than the brand written in the prescription.
6. Will the brand chosen by the patient be given by the chemist without prescription?
7. Will the chemist be allowed to switch brands, which is against the law?
8. Will the patient not switch brands every now and then, which can change the bioavailability of the drug?

Schedule HX is not patient-friendly

 The recent move on the part of the Union Health Ministry to amend the Drugs and Cosmetic Rules 1945 through Schedule HX is creating a stir among chemists and pharmacists, who are opposed to it. Even for the medical profession, this amendment is not patient-friendly.
 
The Schedule HX has Part A and Part B. And, according to it, 16 antibiotics in Part A would be sold directly by drug manufacturers to the tertiary care hospitals, and 74 drugs in Part B can be sold by the chemist only on the prescription of Registered Medical Practitioners in duplicate. The extra copy of the prescription would be kept with the chemist for a further 2 years.
 
The schedule talks about the need to have tertiary hospitals, registered medical practitioners and prescriptions in duplicate for the drugs in Schedule HX.

The said proposed notification however does not account for the following
 
1.              There are no tertiary hospitals in the rural areas.
2.              Newer antibiotics are very costly and if they can only be prescribed in a tertiary care hospital, will people be able to afford these hospitals?

3.              ICU care in a tertiary hospital may cost 30-50,000 per day.

4.              Today many chemists offer hefty discounts on branded drugs as they play with margins of up to 40%. No tertiary care hospital will pass on this discount to the patient.

5.              A patient may have to be given antibiotic for weeks and most of this period may be ambulatory at home through a private nurse. Will the prescription be allowed from a tertiary care hospital pharmacy as an outpatient?  

6.              Patients requiring these drugs invariably will be required to be transferred to a tertiary care hospital for the treatment. This may not be in the interest of the patient and the treating doctor.

New MOH policy about promotion of generic drugs not patient friendly

Today I was interviewed by Zee TV on the upcoming MOH policy of bringing a helpline for the patients wherein they can text a message to a particular number and the return message would give the prices of five brands of the drug salt prescribed to the patient. If this is the policy that the government is planning, it is clearly wrong.

1. If the intention is that doctor should write cheaper brands of drugs, then why are expensive brands given license to be sold?

2. Doctors only prescribe a brand that has been approved by the Drug Controller of India (DCI).

3. If a particular brand is approved by DCI then why discourage the doctors to not write those brands.

4. If the intention is to provide cheaper brands in India then are why so many brands approved. Only one brand can be permitted like in the United States and that can be put under price control.

5. If this would be the policy, then the Chemists/Pharmacists will become the ‘Doctors’ and decision makers as they may inform the patient they have brands that are still cheaper than the brand written in the prescription.

6. Will the brand chosen by the patient be given by the chemist without prescription?

7. Will the chemist be allowed to switch brands, which is against the law?

8. Will the patient not switch brands every now and then, which can change the bioavailability of the drug?