Background: The assessment of doctors’ perceptions and understanding about generic medicines may help in recognizing possible barriers to greater generic medicine usage. The primary objective of this study was to explore the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of doctors toward generic medicines.Methods: A questionnaire based cross-sectional study was carried out in a tertiary-care teaching hospital of Tripura. The questionnaire was designed to assess the KAP about generic medicines. The doctors working in this institute during the study period were included. All data were analysed using statistical software for epidemiology (EPI6). P <0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results: 67.5% doctors agreed to the fact that generic medicines were intended to be interchangeable with a branded drug (p=0.0003). Among the doctors, 95% were aware that generic drug manufacturers need to conduct studies to show bioequivalence between the generic medicine and their branded counterparts (p <0.0001). Majority of the doctors (82.5%) were of the view that generic medicines were as safe as that of branded drugs (p <0.0001). 97.5% of the doctors agreed that importance of generic medicines should be taught in early part of internship. 75% doctors did not think that switching a patient from a brand-name to generic drug may change the outcome of the therapy (p <0.0001). 92.5% doctors said that they prescribe generic medicines (p <0.0001).Conclusion: The study showed that the doctors were well aware of generic medicines and Jan Aushadhi scheme of Govt. of India. It was also observed that efficacy, safety and quality profile of the medicine were the most important factors considered by doctors when they prescribe drugs.

Prescriptions of the patients at the time of admission to the college of Medical Sciences (CMS), Bharatpur, Nepal were collected for a period of 6 months to study the prescribing pattern in a teaching hospital. The prescriptions were subjected to critical evaluation using WHO basic drug use indicators. The average number of drugs per prescription was 4.34. Percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name and percentage of fixed drug combinations (FDCs) were 22.57 and 17.49 respectively. The percentage of prescriptions containing antimicrobials (72.05%) and injections(66.66%) were relatively more in our study. Percentage of drugs prescribed from the WHO essential drug list and the Nepal essential drug list were 41.76% and 38.20% respectively. The most commonly used group of drugs were antimicrobials(32.27%) ,followed by analgesics(11.85%) and drugs for acid-peptic-disorders(10.72%). The present drug utilization study is to give feedbacks to the prescribers, so as to create awareness about the rational use of drugs.

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Background: Antibiotics are frequently used for various infectious diseases e.g., acute lower respiratory tract infection (ALRTI). But, injudicious use of antibiotics often leads to antibiotic resistance which is an emerging problem. The objective of this study was taken up to analyse the antimicrobial sensitivity pattern of pathogens isolated from the sputum samples of admitted patients suffering from ALRTI in a tertiary care teaching hospital.Methods: It is a hospital record-based study with a sample size of 393.Results: Klebsiella (52.16%) was the most common organism followed by Acinetobacter (13.49%) and Pseudomonas (13.23%) isolated from the sputum sample. Imipenem, piperacillin/tazobactam combination and gentamicin was sensitive against Klebsiella and Pseudomonas and the association were statistically significant. Acinetobacter was resistant to ceftriaxone.Conclusions: The commonest pathogens isolated from the sputum samples were Klebsiella followed by Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas. Imipenem, piperacillin/tazobactam combination and gentamicin was sensitive against Klebsiella and Pseudomonas.