Supporting the long-standing claims by the public interest groups, an official assessment by the government showed that the practice of prescribing branded drugs even when generic alternatives were available was widespread, thus affecting the access to medicines drastically in the country.

The preference for the branded drugs continued unabated very much even in the public sector notwithstanding the efforts by the government to promote unbranded generic drugs through initiatives like Jan Aushadhi and public campaigns against the alleged nexus between pharma companies and the healthcare practitioners, if the report is any indication.

Sources said that the Common Review Mission of the National Rural Health Mission in December 2009 observed that the practice of prescribing branded drugs were rampant even though their generic alternatives were easily available. The practice was not quantified as the report of the review mission was yet to be submitted in full. The panel is expected to come up with a set of recommendations to address this issue.

"Unsatisfactory system of procurement and logistics, low per capita drug budget by the State governments, and practice of branded drugs are some factors responsible for lack of access to essential medicines," sources said. Some unofficial figures claimed that nearly 50 to 80 per cent of people in the country still did not have access to essential medicines and the practice of doctors in promoting branded medicines, at the cost of the generic industry as whole and the small scale industry in particular as SME sector manufactured the unbranded generic drugs, was one of the main reasons for this shortage.

There are no official records yet about what extent the practice is done in the country. However, government has been taking steps to promote generic-generic drugs through its chain of generic stores and the pharmaceutical department had advised the States to instruct the government doctors to prescribe more generic medicines.

The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 states that every physician should, as far as possible, prescribe drugs with generic names and he/ she shall ensure that there is a rational prescription and use of drugs. It also goes on to state that it is not unethical for a physician to prescribe drugs as long as there is no exploitation of the patient and this should explicitly state the proprietary as well as generic name of the drug.