Committees to be formed in Govt hospitals to monitor prescriptions

Alappuzha: The state government has clamped down on the prescriptions provided by doctors in government hospitals. The Health department has decided to form a Prescription Audit Committee in all government hospitals as a surveillance measure.

The Health department has issued an order to keep a tab on prescriptions made by government doctors. The aim behind this is to prevent the misuse of antibiotic medication. There will also be restrictions placed on the prescription of branded drugs. Instead, the suggestion is to ensure the disbursement of the generic drugs available in the hospitals. An audit committee is instructed to be formed in all government institutions for the same. 

The Head of the institution will be chosen as the Chairman of the committee and the Regional Medical Officer (RMO), Deputy Superintendent, Senior Medical Officer and Store Custodian will be the members.

In institutions with only one medical officer, the committee should be formed involving the block medical officer under its jurisdiction as the chairman and the head of the institution and store custodians as members. The order also dictates that the committee should conduct an inspection every month and if there are any defaulters, it should be brought to the notice of the District Medical Officer. 

A section of government doctors are displeased with the exclusion of private hospitals from this mandate. They claim that it is doctors in private hospitals that prescribe unnecessary medications, including a propensity towards branded ones. 

The IMA (Indian Medical Association) state president, Dr Sulphi N., lauded the decision as a good one and said that it will promote the prescription of good medicines. However, he also raised concern that not all generic drugs meet quality requirements.

Certain conditions must be followed by doctors prescribing medicines on OP chits. 

• They have been instructed to avoid dotting down medications not available in the hospital unnecessarily. 
• Prescriptions issued by house surgeons should be supervised by medical officers.
• Pharmacies have been advised against dispensing medicines that do not comply with the mandate. 
• Any discrepancies in OP chits must be reported to the committee through the store custodian.