Saturday 30 July 2011

Medicine rate !!!

We have discussed about price hike of several commodities !!! But the most important and silent killer of many people are the medicine cost !!! Many people die in our country, only because they cannot afford to buy medicine !!! Thank God, our Government is drafting a new tactics to solve this issue !!! This post is a detailed analysis of the same !!!


Our central government worked out on the possibility of reducing the medicine costs and they came out with a conclusion too !!!

The parameter selected by them was, mentioning GENERIC name of the drug in the prescription !!!

Generally whenever we visit a doctor, he prescribes the tablet by its brand name (ex, Crocin, Calpal, Dolo etc) !!! We people rush to medical shop and demand for the tablet of same brand !!!

After implementation of the Generic name of drugs in prescription, the name BRAND gets vanished !!! For example, if a doctor prescribes as PARACETAMOL, you now have a wide range of choice !!! You may select medicine of any brand !!! Paracetamol is available from Rs. 1 to Rs. 45 (app) !!! You select the tablet which fits your budget !!!

Also one more advantage of this is, when a doctor gives generic name, choice of selecting brand goes to patients !!! So companies with brand names may reduce their advertising cost gradually - which will have impact on the medicine rate !!!

For selecting any household appliances like TV, Refrigerator we have choice of selecting our own brand - but why not with tablets !?!?

This issue also have some drawbacks !!! India has over 5 Lak medical shops - but how many medical shop has trained and qualified personnel working !?!??!

What will happen, if they are unaware about the brand name !?!? First regulation must be enforced here too !!!

By 2010, Government suggested Government hospital doctors to prescribe the generic name of the tablet along with its brand name !!! In New Delhi and Rajasthan, state government has already ordered for prescribing Generic name of medicine !!!

The serious concern here is - medical field does not belong to Central Government !!! Every state government should come forward to implement - which makes this process time taking !!!

Generally, we people think that cost of the tablet is directly proportional to its quality !!! When we have a choice of selecting brand - we will have more doubt about quality !!! A person who is unaware about any medical terminology is now to take decision about his tablet !!! This may lead us to some wrong track !!!

Next, when the prescription is generic - many small companies may evolve and produce tablets compromising the quality !!! Now it would be more difficult task for Government to control this !!!

Finally, the generic name system is an useful technique !!! It will surely reduce the price of medicine !!! But, there are also some threatening side effects (such as dependency on medical shop personnel, new brand with less quality) !!! If Government can enforce some rules to nullify these side effects - this step is most welcome !!!

Hope this post was useful !!! Please refer this blog to your friends and relatives !!! Please find time to write back to us !!! Do vote in INDLI, INDIBLOGGER and DIGG, if we deserve !!!

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