PESHAWAR, Dec 10: Competition among multinational and local pharmaceutical companies for capturing a bigger portion of the market has made some doctors corrupt, a survey conducted by Dawn reveals.

It is well-known that all national and multinational pharmaceutical firms engage a large number of medical representatives and medical information officers for the promotion of their products. They visit hospitals and private clinics with samples of their companies’ products and related literature to present them to physicians and surgeons.

However, it has been learnt that, instead of providing relief and good health care opportunities, growing competition among multi- national and national pharmaceutical companies adds to the suffering of patients. “ In a purely business atmosphere, the companies set certain targets for their field staff to achieve by adopting any methods they like”, said a senior physician at the Lady Reading Hospital.

In such a situation, he observed that, with the exception of a few drug companies, many of them were bent upon capturing a bigger portion of the market for their products. For this, they had no other option but to expand their business in connivance with “unconscientious” doctors.

The physician admitted that corruption had infiltrated this noble profession for quite sometime now, saying: “There is no denying the fact that the pharmaceutical companies bribe doctors so that they could prescribe to patients medicines manufactured by them ( companies).

This, the physician added, ultimately aggravated the suffering of patients as such doctors were obliged to prescribe a lot of unnecessary medicines, simply to push up sale of their benefactors’ procducts.

Interviews with medical representatives, companies’ managers and pharmacists reveal that corruption exists in various forms—giving gifts like clinical instruments, pens, wall-clocks, mugs and decoration items.

“A few months ago I provided, on demand, a 26-inch colour television to a well-known gaestrologist, from my company”, revealed a medical representative.

A sales manager in a multinational company dispelled the impression that all pharmaceutical firms were involved in corruption. He said that usually they (companies) donated expensive instruments to hospitals for the benefit of patients, but regretted that no one spoke about it.

“However, there are some companies which bribe doctors in different ways to increase their sale”, he confirmed.