Jalpaiguri April 1: The state government’s effort to provide low cost medicines to patients by setting up low cost medicine centers at different district hospitals is yet to yield result as the doctors practicing in hospitals are still prescribing brand names of medicines although they are supposed to write generic names.
Owing to this patient parties are
being forced to buy medicine from the open market and the low cost medicine
centers have become of no use to them. Aware of the fact, the Jalpaiguri Sadar
Hospital
The low cost medicine centers were
supposed to keep 142 kinds of medicines in the shops which they would sell
against prescriptions. “But in most of the cases the prescriptions have brand
names of medicines which we cannot supply as we have the generics. It is
therefore patient parties are forced to buy medicine from open market at a much
higher price,” said Kaushik Roy, the low cost medicine center in charge in
Jalpaiguri.
Relatives of patients who get admitted in
the hospital are also upset with this. “My elder brother is a heart patient and
is admitted in hospital. The attending doctor prescribed a medicine which is
available at Rs.55 in the open market. The medicine with the same generic is
available at Rs.25 at the low cost medicine center. But since the doctor
prescribed the brand name, I had to buy that from a medicine shop outside. If
this continues, what is the point in continuing the low cost medicine center?”
said Sambhu Mahato, a resident of Jalpaiguri.
Jalpaiguri Sadar Hospital Superintendent,
Brajeswar Mazumdar admitted that doctors were still prescribing brand names of
medicines. “We have therefore issued an order asking the doctors to start
prescribing generic names within seven days,” he said.
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