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Doctors given a choice - Generic names or jail
Beginning (January 1) doctors, both in the private and public sectors, will have to prescribe drugs under their generic names and explain to patients the advantages of prescribing drugs under generic names instead of trade names. This regulation is being implemented under the Private Medical Ordinance Act and Government Medical Ordinance Act.
Health Ministry sources said that private sector and government doctors who
fail to comply with the regulation could be prosecuted and jailed up to six
months or fined a maximum of Rs 50,000. In the case of Government sector
doctors all hospitals have been notified of this.
Doctors in the private sector could be rewarded by pharmacies since drugs
under the trade names are costlier and the margin of profit, too, being
high, Health Ministry sources said.
Healthcare Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva told The Island that the
rationale for this initiative was that multinational pharmaceutical
companies had been exploiting patients and inexpensive drugs were being sold
at exorbitant prices under trade names.
He said that generically one tablet of paracetamol was only 26 cents, but
under different trade names it is sold for prices varying from Rs 2 to Rs
10. This was a naked exploitation by multinational companies whose only
motive was maximum profit. Of late, low quality drugs had flooded the Sri
Lankan pharmaceutical trade as organised groups had smuggled cheaper and
inferior drugs from Bangladesh and India and Pakistan where the drug market
was often operated unlawfully.
Referring to State-run hospitals, Minister de Silva said that the Health
Ministry had already sent the circulars to all hospitals and if any doctor
violated the regulation, appropriate disciplinary action would be taken
against him or her under the provisions of the Government Medical Ordinance
Act.
When asked about the status of bogus medical laboratories run by unqualified
personnel, Minister de Silva explained that an island-wide survey carried
out by the Health Ministry had found that there were around 3,000 to 4,000
private laboratories in operation, but only 400 laboratories had been
registered with the Health Ministry. The Health Ministry would never
register any laboratory employing unqualified technicians. The Health
Ministry's flying squad had been instructed to raid bogus laboratories
operated secretly across the country. Under the Private Medical Institution
Act any person or company operating illegal medical laboratories without due
registration with the Health Ministry would be prosecuted in accordance with
the provisions of the Act.
Articles from 1st January 2008
