Jagged little pill

An apple a day keeps the doctor away goes the proverb, but of course doctors think otherwise. They prescribe pills and potions and sometimes over-prescribe them too.

A recent study confirms this concern. Consumers International, a global federation of consumer organisations, has come up with a study, “Drugs, Doctors and Dinners” that has found that pharmaceutical companies often bribe doctors in developing countries — like India — to needlessly prescribe their drugs.

This helps boost sales and profits; but of course it can also put patients’ lives at risk.

The top culprits are vitamin supplements, cough syrups and painkillers. For giving these to patients for no reason doctors get goodies as varied and exciting as cars, laptops, club memberships and foreign holidays.

The medical community has admitted that many of its members are susceptible to such offers even though they know that their patients will suffer.

Further, such mis-prescriptions also lead to pathogens that develop resistance to drugs.
There are two core issues at work here.

The first is the perfidy of the pharma companies, which take advantage of weak or lax laws to push their agendas through.

It is already well-known that several drugs that are banned in western countries are openly available over the counter in developing countries — many children’s cough syrups that were named as dangerous in the US can be bought freely in India.

But it is the erring doctors that are the key part of this scam. No one can disagree that it is unconscionable that medics can prescribe medicines for no reason just so that they can get a new car or travel abroad.

We all know that many become doctors because it is seen as a lucrative profession, but the assumption remains that doctors will not willingly harm their patients just to get a few perks.

Overusage of painkillers, for instance, can lead to liver disease and internal haemorrhaging, many vitamin supplements are in fact useless and can be counterproductive, and cough syrups come with many side effects — doctors know this.

Yet, ignorance does not seem to be the problem here. Instead, it is greed.
Caveat emptor (buyer beware) is of course the usual precaution to take, but when it comes to matters medical, people are naturally concerned.

And this is the fear that is exploited. Both the government and the medical community need to come up with strong regulatory infrastructure which will curb the generosity of pharma companies as well as cut off the gravy supply to erring doctors.

The medical associations, in particular, must consider the ethical breaches of their own fraternity, especially those that can cause real harm to their patients.