Generic medicines are those which have the same composition, quality, performance, etc. as the original approved and marketed drug. This ensures that the cost of the medicine is less and purchasing this online further reduces the cost. Thus it is always suggested to buy generic medicines online at low cost which offer the same effectiveness and quality.
From April 2017 Medical Council of India (MCI) has passed an emphatic law of mentioning the salt name or generic name in the prescription which has been followed by only about 10% doctors in private hospitals. Though the penetration of this law is not high, yet the awareness of this is fast spreading among citizens.
The classic example of the generic name is paracetamol whereas the medicine names can be Calpol, Dolo, etc.
Benefits of Generic Drugs:–
- Same effect as the original brand
- Cost of medicines is around 30-80% lesser
- Huge savings can be used somewhere else.
- The overall health care budget of the country comes down.
Challenges
The major reasons for spread to be sluggish are:-
- The majority of the doctors don’t suggest a generic name since they are not fully confident of its effectiveness.
- Lack of knowledge of the generic drugs among doctors as well as patients.
- It is also rumored that doctors have to tie up with the Pharma companies and they are supposed to sell pre-decided drugs.
The way ahead
- Awareness needs to be developed among doctors and patients so that they turn more to the generic use of medicines.
- A journal to be published by MCI indicating the approved generic drugs against the original brand
- Suggesting generic medicine to be part of the MBBS curriculum so that students are more aware of these medicines.
- Godman and others had suggested a procedure of 4 Es for promoting the use of generic drugs-Education, Engineering, Economics, and Enforcement in Europe. These can be put to use in India as well.
Nowadays all the online medicine sites offer suggestions to buy generic medicines online at low cost rather than spending on high priced brands. Most of the sites offer more than one generic medicine showing how much in percentile the price is lower than the original brand. This gives the buyer a clear idea of which one to choose from the list of medicines suggested.
In a nutshell, thus it is suggested to look for generic drugs every time one goes for buying medicines and the same awareness to be developed among all.