How confident would you feel when what has been prescribed to you by your doctor is what you need? Drug manufacturers are no strangers to handing out gifts and putting up contests for prizes with doctors in lieu of sale of their medicines. These unethical marketing practices are a threat to patients and hospitals. In one such case, 100 doctors who topped the prescribers charts from cities like Ahmedabad, Chennai, Alwar, Belgaum, Ambala and Agra participated in a lucky draw and were awarded publicly by the Gujarat-based Torrent Pharmaceutical. There have been many such cases of unethical practices going on in Delhi since years. The doctors have been prescibing medicines which are available in particular shops and nowhere else, so that the chemists and the doctors become the real beneficiaries, ignoring the fact that it might prove expensive for a patient. In India, we just have vague assurances of self-regulation by the drug industry and reliance on doctors ethics. Doctors are being bribed and the government should bring in strict regulations in order to break this nexus.
So, next time you pop a prescribed pill, be warned : unless it is a doctor you can trust, you might not necessarily be taking what you need.
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