Soon, Centre to push doctors to prescribe generic medicines: Modi

The government will make laws to ensure doctors prescribe generic medicines, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, a move that could deal a blow to big drug companies.

It wasn’t, however, clear if the new proposals would make the use of cheap, generic drugs mandatory.

Prescribing a generic medicine means doctors write the composition for the medicine (the salt) and not a brand name.

The prime Minister made the comments during the inauguration of a hospital in Surat, a known diamond hub which is also home to several top Indian generic drug makers.

“We are going to make legal provisions to ensure that when doctors write prescriptions they write that generic medicines are sufficient and that there is no need for any other medicine,” Modi said.

“I have seen doctors writing prescriptions in such a way that the poor people don’t understand and go to the medicine shop where costlier medicines are sold.”

Making medicines cheaper is a politically sensitive issue in India where many patented drugs are too costly for most people, and where patented drugs account for under 10% of total drug sales.

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