Health Ministry considering proposal for ‘prescription audits’ in public hospitals

The Health Ministry is considering a proposal to put in place some mechanism
 to carry out ‘prescription audits’ in the hospitals of the country, with a view to
 checking the practice ofexcess prescriptions especially the 
unnecessary drugs to the patients and also to reign in on the alleged  unethical
 practices by the healthcare personnel.Though the proposal has been mooted in 
the wake of recent controversy surrounding around the
 Superbug called New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase 1 (NDM1)
 with the aim of regulating the antibiotics, the suggestion now under 
`active consideration’ of the ministry is to cover the entire gamut of prescription drugs.
 Thus, it is viewed that, rational use of drugs can be ensured in a better way, sources said.
The proposal, if gets through, is to launch the practice of ‘prescription audit’ in 
the government hospitals to begin with and to extend it later to cover the private 
hospitals. The details of project will be finalised through consultations also with
 the stakeholders, it is learnt. The drug inspectors will be allowed to keep a tab 
on the commonly prescribed drugs under the proposed mechanism.
The idea has been firmly supported by the experts, in a recent meeting with the 
health ministry officials, and there was also suggestion that it could help promote
 the generic and unbranded drugs by regularly holding the audits. Besides, it is
 also claimed that the audit can check the unethical practices of health personnel 
who allegedly collude with the pharma firms to prescribe and `move’ costly drugs,
 even if not necessary for the patients.
Experts have also suggested creation of ‘drug control committee’ mandatorily 
in all hospitals in the line of ‘infection control committee’ to identify and clear
 the prescription of high-end medicines as patients in the country are vulnerable
 victims in the absence of any ‘right to patients’ information’ rules as in the case of 
developed countries.Sources said the country did not have sufficient data on the
nature of prescribingof drugs and survey should be held to ascertain the extent, 
nature, trends and other details of prescription practices.