BAREILLY: When Irfan Ansari, an MBA student, took his uncle to a private hospital at Rampur Garden, the doctor prescribed him a medicine for blood circulation which had to be taken thrice a day. Though the doctor should have mentioned the name of the generic medicine, he wrote the brand of the drug in his prescription.
“I was shocked when the pharmacist told me that each capsule will cost me Rs 60. It means that we will have to shell out Rs 180 daily on it, which is very expensive for us. On the recommendation of a friend, I downloaded an app to find cheaper substitutes for this medicine. I found one which is only Rs 9.30 per capsule,” Ansari said.
As there is a vast difference in pricing of drugs manufactured by pharmaceutical companies, patients in the city are opting for substitute medicines with cheaper generic alternatives by using different apps, including ‘1mg’, ‘My Dawai’ and ‘Healthkart Plus’.The guidelines of the Medical Council of India (Professional Conduct, Etiquette, and Ethics) Regulation 2002 state that every physician should, as far as possible, prescribe drugs with generic names. However, many private doctors in Bareilly write the name of the brand in their prescriptions which often are very expensive. “Medical representatives pay doctors in kind, including endorsing foreign trips, to prescribe expensive branded medicines to patients and hence, they avoid mentioning cheaper substitutes,” said a senior doctor who wished not to be named.
The city president of Mahanagar Chemist Association, Durgesh Khatwani, said, “Majority of the patients or their attendants who come to our shops to buy medicines show us expensive brand name written in their prescriptions. Doctors mostly do not mention the generic name or chemical formula. However, due to increasing awareness among patients, they first ask about the price of the drug prescribed to them. They then ask for cheaper substitutes by checking their names on different apps.”
S K Sharma, a retired lecturer from chemistry department of Bareilly College said, “I am a patient of diabetes and high blood pressure while my wife is suffering from sarcoidosis and other diseases. Though doctors always prescribe branded medicines, I purchase economical substitutes. I do not inform the doctor that we are consuming another drug as the chemical formula of both is the same.”
Chief Medical Superintendent at district hospital, Dr KS Gupta said, “In government hospitals, we only get generic medicines.”
