Survey reveals 72% respondents believe their doctor is receiving commission

On August 2, the National Medical Commission (NMC) issued a directive to all doctors to prescribe generic drugs, failing which they will be penalised, including their license to practice could be suspended.

The Indian Medical Association (IMA) has sharply reacted to the NMC directives on generic medicines, stating, “measure is just shifting the choice from a medical practitioner who is primarily concerned, trained and responsible for the patients’ health than a chemist/ person sitting in a chemist shop, who is selling drugs. This naturally wouldn’t be in the best interest of the patient.”

Striving to understand concerns on the need for stringent rules, Local Circles conducted a national survey to find out people’s perception of the commission nexus and malpractices and sought their views on the latest NMC guidelines.

72% citizens believe their doctor(s) are receiving commissions
The survey asked respondents this question, “Who all do you believe are providing incentive/commissions in cash or kind to the doctors/specialists that you generally consult?”
In response, eight percent of citizens surveyed said, “some pathology and diagnostic labs”, one percent said, “some private nursing homes & hospitals”, and six percent said, “some pharma companies”.

In total, 49 percent of citizens believe “most of the above or all of them”, and 23 percent said, “most or all of the above and a few others” are providing incentives to the doctors. Only four percent said, “none of them”, and nine percent didn’t have any response.

On an aggregate basis, 72 percent of citizens believe their doctor(s) are receiving commission income. This question in the survey received 10,401 responses.

Only 7% of citizens surveyed approve of the NMC’s new regulation
The survey asked respondents, “As a patient, what would you want your doctor to prescribe for your ailments?”

Only seven percent of citizens surveyed approved the NMC’s new regulation that the doctors should only provide the name of generic drug with 60 percent respondents saying they wanted their doctors writing names of the branded drug along with the name of the salt “in case I want to opt for generic medicine”. Moreover, 22 percent favoured that the doctors should “name the salt and as an example mention the name of a branded drug” and seven percent want the doctors to just prescribe “the branded drug”. Four percent of the respondents mentioned “can’t say.”

60 percent of the respondents were in favour of knowing the medicine suggested by the doctor as well as knowing the name of the generic drug which will help them go for an alternative medicine in case the recommended medicine was not available.

This query received 20,706 responses.

85 percent of citizens surveyed in support of the NMC guidelines that restrict doctors and from receiving any kind of commission
The survey asked the respondents, “The National Medical Commission guidelines restrict doctors and their family members from receiving gifts, grants, commissions, hospitality and other forms of gratification from pharmaceutical and medical device companies, pathology/ diagnostic labs, hospitals, other commercial establishments, etc. Do you support this move?”

To this, 85 percent indicated support for the NMC guidelines that restrict doctors and their family members from receiving any kind of commission or gratification with remaining 15 percent of citizens did not agree with the NMC’s guidelines.

The survey received over 43,000 responses from citizens located in 326 districts of India. The agency said 65 percent respondents were men while 35 percent respondents were women.

Additionally, 44 percent of the respondents were from tier 1, 35 percent from tier 2 and 21 and respondents were from tier 3, 4 and rural districts. CNBCTV18