Even as the government is pulling out all stops to promote generic drugs in the country as they are much cheaper than the branded drugs, a section of doctors in Hyderabad have expressed concern that some generic drugs may lack quality, because of which they are vary of prescribing the same to the patients.

According to Dr B Bhaskar Rao, CEO & MD, KIMS, and member of APSSHA (Andhra Pradesh Super Specialty Hospital Association), doctors will prefer to prescribe more generic medicines if they are assured of its quality and efficacy. Most of the generic medicines take too long to show results and moreover as patients demand fast relief and speedy cures, doctors have no options but to prescribe branded drugs having better quality and efficacy.

Drug companies manufacturing more generic drugs is a good sign, but at the same time they should ensure safety and quality so that doctors are confident to prescribe them to the patients. The drug manufacturers must understand that whether a drug is branded or generic, it makes no difference to a doctor as long as it is effective, opined Dr Rao.

Referring to in-house drug testing facilities, he felt it is impractical to have generic drugs tested in advance for their quality because such facilities are not available in India. Even if a few hospitals have such testing facilities available, the drug testing is a time consuming affair as the quality of the equipment they have is far below when compared to advanced countries.

Dr Rao also clarified that the doctors are not against generic drugs, but are concerned that with more competitors coming in the generic space, it is difficult to assess the quality of generic medicines in the absence of a foolproof and regular monitoring mechanism in the country.

Some doctors also felt that if in case a medical treatment is failed for a patient due to substandard drugs, the relatives of the patients do not blame the drug manufacturing companies or the government but they blame the doctors and the hospital.

Even though the drug controller is doing his best to contain the spread of low quality and spurious medicines, due to the absence of a foolproof monitoring mechanism, some companies continue to supply substandard generic drugs in the Indian market. However the same companies are careful when exporting their products to countries like US because of strict quality control followed by them.

India has all the laws and also has the monitoring mechanism, but only on paper. These laws and mechanism need to be implemented honestly and sincerely in practice so that the patients can get the right quality generics and avail healthcare at affordable price, opined Dr Rao.