To make prescribing medicines a patient-friendly experience, leading gynaecologist and founder of NGO-Patient Safety Alliance (PSA), Dr Nikhil Datar, has come up with an app named 'Safe Rx' that will be launched soon.
With the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) and government health officials emphasising on the need to have eligibly written prescriptions, Datar says that this app will not only make the doctor give legible prescription but it will also have the facility to translate the instructions in 14 Indian languages.
Explained the gynaecologist: "Doctors' illegible handwriting had been a bone of contention and a topic of debate for sometime. FDA has been stressing on the need to have legibly written prescriptions. The basic aim of 'Safe Rx' app is to provide a legibly written prescription."
Dr Datar added that the app will translate the prescription in 14 Indian languages. "We, at PSA, have made arrangement for converting the prescription into the language that the patient is comfortable with. This will ensure that the patient's compliance rate to the treatment improves. Many patients don't follow the instructions-dosage of the medicines given in the prescription."
'Safe Rx' will also help give generic name of the drugs prescribed by the doctor. "Ethics say that we should go for generic name instead of brand name of the medicines prescribed. While the doctor keys in the brand name via this app, it will automatically give the generic name of the medicine. This will give options to the patient and also ensure that the prescription is without an error," said Dr Datar.
The app will cost doctors less than Rs 10 per day. "It is a one-of-its-kind app having only pros. We are planning to launch it at a price of Rs 2,500 per year including license costs. This app is an intervention technique which will protect the doctor and prevent him from medical error," said Dr Datar.
Dr Datar addedd, the awareness on the app will be spread via medical associations like Indian Medical Association (IMA) and Association of Medical Consultants (AMC). IMA has also decided to organise a special workshop for new doctors in the state to train them in writing legible prescriptions and giving proper dosage for specific diseases. IMA has sent out a directive to all doctors that they have to write prescriptions in capital letters to prevent any confusion.
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