Patients wonder what’s stopping private doctors from prescribing generic medicines

HUBBALLI: The city has five Pradhan Mantri Bharatiya Jan Ausadhi Kendras (PMBJK) and more are coming up, but a reality check conducted by TOI revealed that private doctors not helping their patients to get medicines from these shops. Private doctors are beating the very purpose of setting up PMBJKs by not giving prescription in generic names, let alone advising people to purchase medicine from these outlets.

Thanks to the increasing awareness, people are buying medicine from PMBJKs instead of purchasing the same at private medical stores that sell branded medicine at a higher price.

Some patients said that though their doctors have not given prescription in generic names, they have themselves come to PMBJKs to buy NABL-tested quality medicines. "I am suffering from diabetes. The doctor has prescribed branded medicine. However, I came here to purchase the same medicine which is unbranded. This is the second time I'm purchasing medicine from a PMBJK store. The medicine is as effective as branded medicine. While the total cost of the medicine I bought was Rs 80, it would be Rs 600 if I had bought branded medicine," said H G Nagendra Prabhu, a retired employee of an edible oil company.

"I came from Old Hubballi. Even if I had hired a cab to reach the store here I can save more money," he added.

As the popularity of generic medicine is growing, Pundalik Jadhav, a private company employee whose doctor prescribed him branded medicine, searched for information regarding the importance of generic medicine and decided to give it a try. "I'm really surprised to know the difference in prices of the branded and unbranded medicine," he said.

Ningappa Kolur, an agriculturist, expressed his happiness for buying medicine at a cheaper price. "The total cost of the medicine was Rs 216 at PMBJK. However, the same would have been around Rs 900 in medical stores that sell branded medicine," he said.

Generic medicines are unbranded but equally safe and have the same efficacy in terms of the therapeutic value.

Private docs buy them for family members

Dr Pawan Joshi, owner of three PMBJKs in the city, said, "The patients who come to my store show the prescription in branded names. Except government doctors, no private doctor gives prescription in generic name. They do not suggest the people to buy the medicine at PMBJKs either."

Revealing some strange behaviour of some private doctors, Dr Joshi said some doctors ask patients to buy medicine in a particular medical shop. "However, when they go home at night, they come to my store to buy generic medicine for their family members. It is because they trust the NABL tested medicine. However, they do not ask patients to buy the same medicine. I can show you the CCTV footages of some private doctors who purchased generic medicine from my store," Dr Joshi laughs. Owner of another PMBJKs agrees with Dr Joshi but requested anonymity.

Confusions need to be solved: IMA

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) Hubballi chapter secretary Dr Sachin Revankar agreed that some doctors are not prescribing medicine in generic names. "It is not because they do not want to prescribe medicine in generic name. There are some apprehensions among some doctors regarding the quality and combination of medicines. Some doctors fear that they will be held responsible if something happens to patients who are given generic medicine from such stores. Once these confusions are cleared, many honest doctors will prescribe medicine in generic names," he said.