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Doctors given a choice - Generic names or jail
Tuesday, 1 January 2008 - 3:59 AM SL Time
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Beginning today (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.
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wick
Joined: Sep 2007
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 1 Jan 2008 03:06:08 GMT Report for Abuse
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Doctors given a choice ? Generic names or Jail
Sounds good but we will see how far its going to work.
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Damed
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 1 Jan 2008 03:16:18 GMT Report for Abuse
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If works,good for the patience.
Doctors prescribe various drugs to promote drug producers at patience expense.
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Ramz
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 1 Jan 2008 11:14:20 GMT Report for Abuse
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Whole the story sounds good......but I'm not sure about it
Doctors will prescribe generic names.....patience have no idea about qualities....pharmacies will play around with them & give low quality medicine....
if it is not well-organized....it may have a worse impact..... |
magha
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 1 Jan 2008 17:45:27 GMT Report for Abuse
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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.
This is ridiculous. What need to be done is to give an option on a prescription that a substitution is permissible, however there is no gurrantee in Sri Lanka that Pharmacist would make a genuine change at their level. How could a doctor be sent to jail or fine because he or she writes a prescription for a medication whether it is generic or brand name?
Government sector doctors will have no problem writing generic medicines if the hospitals dispense the medicines as they will not be carrying brand name products. However it should not apply for the private sector.
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Ramz
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 2 Jan 2008 07:14:23 GMT Report for Abuse
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Yeas Magha....
It seems..
ridiculous. What need to be done is to give an option on a prescription that a substitution is permissible, however there is no gurrantee in Sri Lanka that Pharmacist would make a genuine change at their level. How could a doctor be sent to jail or fine because he or she writes a prescription for a medication whether it is generic or brand name
I can't get it.....what is the point after all....can they manage it?? |
drbdes
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 2 Jan 2008 19:41:22 GMT Report for Abuse
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This is a response written ,on the first 1-1-2008
sent to many news media the world over
and to many prominent sri lankans, of all communities[may not have covered all, for obvious reasons]
your news items are quite valid.
the govt must get out of controlling doctors and patient care.
lawmakers are too corrupt,
uses the health dept, as a cess pool ,for idiotic display or further illiteracy.
no health minister should be with less than a doctorate, preferably a medical doctor,
with ample cash, and no need to be bribed or make money via private practice,
no political connections, have all meeting ,open to the public,publish all letters ,calls requests ,made by politicians, their agents or any unusual requests[and make such requests, punishable. like for drug possesion, sans the barbaric death penalty]
make parliament, a product, that venerates education, and respect for it[not the illiterate, semi literate, thugs, or anyone with a criminal record,,in fact all the current politicians, their families, friends and all parties for the past 20 yrs and all their connections should be barred from these areas[if we are powerful enough to understand our power, as voters, withoutanarchy, these changes can be made.keep the religions and missionaties, NGO s that from for forced conversion[exemplified bycatholics, islam and cultist religions, hell bent on driving all of us to helland killed all who opposed or recognized the falsification of facts, to collect money for non existent gods,and politicians are doing the very same thing, but disguised differently,and fooling a diferent group]
generic drugs is another,
they use prof Bibile,
who did not start the generic version, it was there, in almost all pharmacopias,
there were hardly any brand names, as medicine was very primitive[like in lanka now, but worse]
there are some replacements for brands,
but all the new drugs are brand names, and have no generic equivalent[or the product is cheap, poor quality, dangerous, anyone can make it, and bribe anyone to sell it,bio equivalence, bio availability, efficacy, tolerbility, side effects of even the filers, and many other errors, are not checked[just false ,give and officials promises,backed by thugs and terrorists
many generics are dangerous, kill, and the offending manufaturer, distributor, cannot be traced.
TRY TO CALL THE PHONE NUMBER OF THE GENERICMANUFATUIRER, AND GET ENY INFORMATION, EVEN IF YOU ARE GIVEN A NUMBER.
iT DOES NOT EXIST.
BUT FOR THE POOR, IT IS A LIFE SAVER, IF WE GET IT.
THEY CAN FIND OUT FROM ANY PHARMACY, IF THE GENERIC IS AVAILABLE.
iN THE usA, UNLESS FORBIDDEN BY DOCTORS,
THEY CAN GIVE THE GENERIC, BUT MAY NOT EXPLAIN THE DANGERS, OR THE UNRELIABILITY OF THE MANUFACTURER[EVEN IF KNOWN]
jail doctors, but also a politican too, when they make these demand, and force doctors to beg for jobs,and threaten to jail them for politicians mistakes.
that is also a reason, why many qualified doctors did not return to |
Gaja
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 2 Jan 2008 21:24:59 GMT Report for Abuse
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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.
It says 'could be' and not 'would be'. This indicates additional subjective power.
Gaja Lakshmi Paramasivam - Australian Tamil |
Bonggo
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3 Jan 2008 05:15:45 GMT Report for Abuse
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This is a very good move but difficult to implement. Many patients know the names of drugs through their brand names so there might be some resistance from their side as well.
Professor Bibile was killed while advocating this. |
raigamakolla
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 3 Jan 2008 05:19:15 GMT Report for Abuse
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This was a naked exploitation by multinational companies whose only motive was maximum profit.
Sounds very familiar. Who was caught naked with another woman in his office by his legal wife???? rings the bell. |
Revy
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3 Jan 2008 06:54:28 GMT Report for Abuse
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| Hmm but some generic drugs are really not as effective as their name brand alternatives, but what to expect in the nazi state of Sinhala Lanka. |
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