The Indian Medical Association has lodged a complaint to Maharashtra Medical Council demanding a thorough investigation on the reliability of a research report which says that the medical representatives admitted to paying bribes for the doctors.
The report on practices of the pharmaceutical industry by Pune NGO, Support for Advocacy and Training to Health Initiatives (SATHI), was based on in-depth interviews with 50 medical representatives, area managers, Ayush doctors, from six cities across the country, including Mumbai and Pune. The findings pointed to the widespread violation of ethical guidelines where pharmaceutical companies offered bribes to allopathic and nonallopathic doctors through medical representatives in return for prescribing their medicines. The study pointed out that promotional practices led to the prescription of irrational drugs, non-indicated doses and pushes for high-cost brands, even by non-allopaths.
The authors of the specific research, Dr Arun Gadre and Dr Archana Diwate found that doctors, who wrote voluminous amounts of drugs of a company, could make bigger demands like European holidays with the family, car down payments, credit cards, petrol cards, and online shopping vouchers. But what made the IMA angry was the allegation that doctors were provided female companionship. The paper underlined that such practices were rare. But, it also cited the case of three neurologists from Mumbai, who were allegedly accepted such an offer.
But, IMA demanded to make the names of such doctors be made public. “These are very serious allegations and amounts to maligning the name of the fraternity. We have questioned the study, its methodology and have demanded proof from Dr Gadre,” IMA Maharashtra president Dr Avinash Bhondwe said.
However, Dr Gadre told Times Of India, “IMA’s outrage is misdirected. It amounts to shooting the messenger. The study was carried out scientifically with grants from Azim Premji Philanthropic Initiative (APPI) and not the government, as IMA is claiming. The study made it clear that pharmaceutical companies and doctors are violating ethical codes of conduct and hence steps need to be taken.” The paper also found that regulatory codes like Uniform Code for Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices exist only on paper.
“MCI Act is clear that doctors cannot accept gifts or incentives, but we can’t take action till there is a complaint. It’s time codes are designed for pharma companies too,” said Dr Shivkumar Utture of Maharashtra Medical Council. They are yet to look into the complaint.

Source: Times Of India

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