NMC puts generic drugs order on hold

Aditi Tandon

New Delhi, August 24

The National Medical Commission (NMC) on Thursday put on hold its notification mandating doctors to prescribe generic drugs and barring them from attending third-party educational activities sponsored directly or indirectly by pharmaceutical companies.

“The National Medical Commission Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023, are hereby held in abeyance with immediate effect,” the apex medical education regulator said amid calls by the Indian Medical Association (IMA) and the Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) to withdraw the orders until the government could certify the quality of every generic drug manufactured and retailed in India.

The IMA and the IPA representatives had met Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Monday to demand suspension of the NMC notification.

They also opposed the NMC’s proposed ban on participation in any third-party activity sponsored by a pharmaceutical firm. Following a nudge by Mandaviya, the NMC today said, “For the removal of doubts, it is clarified that the National Medical Commission Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023, shall not be operative and effective till further Gazette Notification.”