Most doctors are stiffly opposing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to ensure that they prescribe drugs with generic names to patients. The Centre ’s objective was to make medicines affordable to patients in view of the significant price differential between generic drugs and their branded alternatives.

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There is a vigorous debate on whether generic drugs are equivalent to branded drugs, with respect to bioavailability, potency, efficacy, and impurity content. A section of doctors leans towards prescribing generic drugs in place of branded drugs citing the patient’s health. They also warn that entrusting the choice of drug to the pharmacist based on the generic name is risky as very few are trained in pharmacology and most will dispense the drug for which they get a higher commission. Unfortunately, this is the same charge levelled against many doctors by health activists.

The pharma industry has perfected techniques like paid vacations, sponsoring of conferences, and other freebies, to push their products through doctors. However, doctors can claim to be better aware of the composition of drugs and their efficacy than pharmacists because they track medical histories and responsiveness to drugs, unlike the pharmacists. The other problem is the poor condition of the quality control and drug inspection mechanism. By its own admission, the government tests less than 0.1 per cent of the drugs produced in the country for quality standards.

Unlike brands, which have much more to lose if caught out for substandard and spurious products, generics are not deterred by consumer disapproval. To tackle affordability, the government can also consider bringing more drugs under the National List of Essential Medicine and its market-based control of prices by averaging the prices of the maximum and minimum drug in the same generic composition. The government also has the responsibility of opening more Jan Aushadhi stores which dispense affordable medicines compared to private chemists. These stores can become a solution to the problem of ensuring better quality generics and affordability.