Apetition contending that doctors have been given freebies worth over Rs 1,000 crore for prescribing an irrational dose of popular fever drug Dolo-650 during Covid waves lays bare the deeply-entrenched corruption in pharmaceutical marketing. The brazen indulgence in unethical practices also brings the functioning of the drug regulatory system under scanner. The market price of tablets up to 500 mg is controlled, it has been pointed out to the Supreme Court, while that of drugs exceeding 500 mg can be fixed by the companies. Offering gifts, paying cash and sponsoring trips of medical practitioners to influence prescription of unwarranted or irrational drugs, or push for high-cost and over-priced brands, is an open trade secret. The plea for a statutory code of ethical marketing with penal consequences, along with introduction of stringent transparency and accountability mechanisms, offers a chance to clean up the healthcare sector.
There is merit in the demand to make pharma companies equally liable for bribing doctors, as the practice can put patients’ health at risk and endanger positive health outcomes. Instances of ghost-management of medical research and sponsorship of clinical trials to influence results exemplify the extent of the rot. The move to amend laws through which freebies offered to doctors will be taxable may not turn out to be an effective disincentive for pharma companies, as it legalises and institutionalises corruption.
The apex court recognising the issue as serious and of great public importance denotes some movement forward in curbing manipulated prescription. The National Medical Commission, too, has sought from the Income Tax Department details of the doctors who allegedly received bribes from six pharma companies, including the Dolo-650 maker against whom raids were conducted last month. A threefold growth of India’s pharma sector is projected in the next decade. For the industry, confronting the erosion of trust and reliability should be the key concerns. Self-introspection should trigger course-correction.
