PESHAWAR: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Care Commission has asked registered medical practitioners not to prescribe food supplements and nutritional products to the patients.

The commission said that action would be taken under the relevant laws against those physicians, who violated the directive.

A notification issued by HCC on Tuesday said that nutritional and supplementary foods were considered complimentary products and had nothing to do with patients’ treatment, therefore, their prescription was against the local as well as international law.

Unlike the allopathic medicines, nutritional and supplementary products are not categorised as essential medicines, which satisfy the priority healthcare needs of the population. Therefore, these items shouldn’t be prescribed by the registered physicians anywhere in the province.

HCC has asked its inspectors to regularly check the prescriptions of the medical practitioners and register cases in case of violation of the instructions.

Action will be taken against violators

Copies of the directives have also been sent to district health officers and relevant authorities to stop the practice forthwith and save the patients from unnecessary expenditure on buying such items, which are not required by the patients.

The notification entitled “advisory to register medical practitioners not to prescribe alternative medicines and health products” said that food supplements, nutritional and nutraceuticals products were being marketed as over-the-counter or non-prescription products that was against the best medical practices and entailed no benefit for the patients.

It said that despite being non-essential items, it was observed that physicians were regularly prescribing those products and forced patients to purchase them at exorbitant prices. “Therefore, the patients are under compelling condition to purchase such products thinking that these are part of their treatment,” it added.

The notification said that prescribing those products by the registered medical practitioners left the patients with no choice but to buy them. It has instructed all the registered medical practitioners, private hospitals, family physicians and dental surgeons and maternity homes to stop such practices in line with the international best medical practices and the guidelines issued by World Health Organisation.

Officials at HCC said that the notification would have longstanding effects on decreasing out of pockets huge expenses by the patients. They said that in majority of the cases, those products were prescribed to the patients as part of hidden commissions for those prescribing it at the cost of the patients.

“Some of the doctors and whole sellers have produced their own food products and supplements, which are promoted on commissions and kickbacks,” they said.

The officials said that prescribing physicians were being given gifts in the shape of cars, household costly electronics items and sponsoring their foreign tours. “But now HCC has directed all inspectors to pursue the same with iron hands and submit reports to the provincial office,” they added.

The directives were issued by Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan, Ministry of Health Regulations and Coordination to all the provinces on July 23 after which the KP health department directed HCC to implement it in letter and spirit.

“As per section 9 of the fine schedule of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Care Commission, the fine for prescribing unregistered drugs and food supplements is Rs15,000 in addition to Rs5,000 as processing fee,” said the officials.

They said that it was basically a malpractice now and any doctor busy in malpractice and prescribing unethical drugs could be issued and served with show cause notice.

“Moreover, when all these food supplements are available over the counter, then why they are prescribing it. There are reports that heavy commissions are being charged at the cost of poor patients,” said the officials.

Published in Dawn, July 29th, 2020