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The state government will open generic medicine stores in two medical colleges in Himachal Pradesh on a pilot basis, state Health and Family Welfare Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said Tuesday.'Initially the generic medicines stores will be opened in the Indira Gandhi Medical College and Hospital in Shimla and the Rajendra Prasad Medical College in Tanda town, and subsequently these will be opened in all zonal hospitals,' he said. Presiding over the review meeting of the health department regarding National Health Programmes being implemented in the state, the minister said all the health institutions would be computerized in a phased manner.
The hill state made it mandatory for doctors in government hospitals and dispensaries to prescribe 191 identified generic rather than certain branded drugs from Dec 1 last year. The government has prepared an essential drugs list comprising 314 formulations which would make available 430 drugs to the patients. To know the highest prescribers of certain branded drugs, the government is soon to periodically audit doctors' prescriptions, a senior health official said. (Read: Minister declares Himachal Pradesh smoke-free!)
What are generic drugs?
They are drugs which have the same chemical composition as branded drugs are and sold under their chemical name. For example Paracetamol , a painkiller, is the generic name for branded drugs like Crocin and Calpol. The drug market situation is a little different in India than the USA or other developed nations. In the USA, when a new drug is launched only the company that holds the FDA patent are legally allowed to sell the drug , thus giving them market monopoly. In India however there were no patent laws till 2005 which meant that anyone could replicate any drug in India without legal ramifications. This led to the trend of branded generic drugs which has 99.5% of the country's generic drug share. Read more on generic drugs...
With inputs from IANS
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