Doctor Bribe is in keep smiling!

New Delhi: “I am very choosy. There are lots of brands in the market and people keep roaming around with brochures of Honda City.  They came to me too, but I said I only drive a BMW,” says R K Lalwani, a diabetes specialist based in South Delhi, in order to prescribe a medicine of a particular firm when approached by the undercover agents of NDTV.

It’s not the first time the cancer of corruption in Health industry has been brought out in open. Earlier, too, there have been instances when the white-collared docs have been exposed accepting bribes for their personal capital benefits. While the doctors play the foul game, pharmaceutical companies, too, are happy offering some “gifts” in return of heavy profit they make selling their products. It doesn’t only dent the ethics of the medical practices but also cripples the patients’ family who do everything their docs ask them to do.

However, amid allegations that some doctors are accepting bribes to prescribe branded drugs, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Tuesday said Medical Council of India has been asked to look into the issue. 

Replying to a supplementary in Rajya Sabha regarding a sting operation allegedly showing doctors taking bribe to prescribe branded drugs, he admitted some doctors were engaged in unethical practices and accepting indirect bribe. 

He said a high-level committee was set up to look into a similar issue earlier and the Health Secretary and Medical Council of India has been asked to include the latest one in the purview of the panel for early inquiry. 

“We have asked the Union Health Secretary and Medical Council of India” to club the latest expose with the earlier inquiry committee. 

The Minister said doctors at CGHS and other government hospitals are encouraged to prescribe affordable generic drugs, instead of the branded medicines. 

Vardhan admitted that some doctors still prescribe branded drugs out “old habits” and stressed government will encourage recommendation of generic drugs by doctors. 

There are two formularies — generic formulary containing 1,447 medicines and propriety formulary containing 622 medicines — in the names of medicines included in the formulary of allopathic medicines of CGHS and other government hospitals. 

Vardhan said instructions are issued from time to time to restrict prescriptions to the medicines listed in formulary. 

“The procurement process is being further streamlined to ensure availability of generic drugs at affordable prices,” he said. 

He said workshops for doctors will be organised in the coming months.