Patients should be able to choose

The article that appeared in The Sunday Times of December 3 titled ‘Bitter medicine for doctors’, bothered me a bit, as a doctor.
The People’s Movement for the Rights of Patients (PMRP), appealing to the Sri Lanka Medical Council to give a directive to doctors regarding the law on the prescription of drugs under low cost generic names and stiff penalties for those who fail to do so, really deprives the patient the right to choose what label he would prefer.

The best person who can educate the patient on the subject of the generic names and other labels on drugs would be the friendly pharmacist, as done in most progressive countries.

When a prescription is handed over to the pharmacist he has the best knowledge on available drugs and prices, and it should be left to his discretion and that of the patient, to have the option of choosing which specific product he (patient) would prefer. If there is a query on the part of the patient or the pharmacist, they could contact the doctor on his mobile for more details of his preference.

This is the most practical method, without going into legal stuff, to benefit the patient; after all, he has his rights, too.

~ Dr. Harold Gunatillake FRCS, Oasis Pvt Hospital, Colombo 5