Doc, what pills should we pop?

NMC’s recently released ethics code asked doctors to prescribe generic medicines. Quality low-cost generics are key to healthcare. That doctors are uneasy tells its own story

Sanjay Nagral
August 19, 2023, The Times Of India

An old debate is back. This time the provocation is the updated ethics code for Indian doctors by the new National Medical Commission. The code reiterates doctors should prescribe medicines in generic and not brand name. Doctors are up in arms. The Indian Medical Association has lashed out at NMC. They claim this will mean promotion of poor-quality drugs. This debate is not just a technical or internal one. It impacts all. Quality and cost of drugs are an everyday matter.

But first something peculiar. The 2002 Medical Council of India code mentioned that doctors should prescribe drugs with generic names ‘as far as possible’. In 2016 the phrase was replaced by a directive. In reality nothing changed. It was largely ignored.

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