UP Health Minister Brajesh Pathak urges doctors to write prescriptions in Hindi

Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Brajesh Pathak has urged doctors to write the names of medicines and diagnostic tests in Hindi or Devanagari on prescriptions, saying the move could make medical information easier for patients to understand.

In an open letter to doctors, Pathak appealed to doctors to make Hindi and other Indian languages a more regular part of healthcare communication. He said he was appealing both as the state’s health and medical education minister and as someone who personally values Hindi.

“As the state’s medical and medical education minister, I would also appeal, as a nationalist Indian, to doctors to write the names of medicines and tests in Hindi on prescriptions for the ease of patients,” he stated.

Pathak said greater use of Hindi in prescriptions could also improve communication and trust between doctors and patients. He linked the appeal to the birth anniversary of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay on September 25 and called for wider promotion of Indian languages.

“The Prime Minister communicates in Hindi during his visits abroad, and we should also promote Indian languages. Doctors prescribing in Hindi will be felicitated,” Pathak said.

However, doctors, while welcoming efforts to promote the use of Hindi, said implementing this would bring practical difficulties. Pathak appealed to promote the use of Hindi and Indian languages in the medical sector to make the healthcare system more accessible and understandable for patients, reports Hindustan Times.

The proposal, however, comes with practical concerns from within the medical community. Doctors pointed out that medical education, particularly subjects such as pharmacology, continues to rely heavily on English terminology, while standard Hindi equivalents for many medicines and clinical terms are not commonly used in practice.

Another concern is the possibility of confusion while dispensing medicines. One doctor noted that efforts are already being made to prescribe medicines by their salt or molecule names instead of brands, but writing complex drug names in Hindi could create difficulties for pharmacists and patients.

Industry representatives pointed out that some pharmaceutical companies already print medicine names in both Hindi and English, following earlier recommendations from the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority.

The discussion therefore centres on how Hindi can be used more widely in healthcare without creating ambiguity in prescribing, dispensing or medical education. Pathak has called for greater use of Indian languages, while doctors and healthcare stakeholders have highlighted the need for a practical approach.