IMA for stronger laws to eliminate spurious drugs

Welcoming Prime Minister Narendra Modi's push for generic drugs, the Indian Medical Association (IMA) on Friday called for stronger laws to eliminate the circulation of spurious and substandard medicines in the country.

IMA has written to its three lakh members asking them to extend support to the cause and prescribe generic drugs to patients.

"To make this a reality, there is a need to address key issues such as increased penetration of spurious and substandard medicines in our country, unauthorised dispensing of generics by chemists as well as lack of dedicated fair price medical shops by the government," IMA National President, Dr K K Agarwal said.

It further said the recent inclusion of stents under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) has reduced prices and all other devices and disposables should also be brought under it.

IMA further suggested that the department responsible for generic drug quality control should be brought under the Ministry of Health as it is currently under the Ministry of Chemical and Petroleum affairs.

It advised its member doctors to write 'Jan Aushadhi' on the prescription and also mention the generic name of the drug and the company name.