Unethical Practice: J&K to conduct prescription audit at government hospitals

Jammu: The Jammu and Kashmir administration is taking a slew of measures to rein in unethical and unfair practices in medical profession in Jammu Kashmir, an official spokesman said on Tuesday. A prescription audit committee (PAC) in each district and sub-district hospital will be constituted, advisory will be issued for doctors and grievance redressal mechanism will be strengthened to check unethical practices, he said.

"The prescription audit will be started at district hospitals and sub-district hospitals soon. The designated nodal officer at the health facility will collect one percent of the prescription copies of outpatient departments on random basis that will be audited by the PAC comprising officials from the administrative department, excluding the consultants," Atal Dulloo, the financial commissioner of Health and Medical Education Department, said in a meeting here.

The key findings will be submitted to the chief medical officers concerned and routed to the administrative department through the Health Directorate, the spokesman said.

"The audit of the prescriptions written by the doctors working in the government hospitals would be conducted to see whether the doctors are following the ethical guidelines and if found otherwise, action will be taken accordingly," Dullo said.

He said the audit would also check any contravention to provisions of the Drug and Cosmetic Act and Regulations, unnecessary diagnostic tests and arbitrary referrals to higher centres.

He also directed the officers to hold workshops to educate doctors about moral duties and responsibilities towards their patients and make them aware of what is covered in unethical acts and what constitutes a professional misconduct.

Medical representatives will not be allowed inside the OPD to push their medicines in the prescription of the doctors, the spokesman said.