Knowledge, attitude and practices of rural medical practitioners on generic medicines

Abstract

Background: An unqualified medical practitioner without any formal registration and practicing allopathic medicine in rural areas in India can be called Rural Medical Practitioner (RMP). RMPs enjoy a great deal of practice in rural areas by taking advantage of lacunae in the public health system. Government of India is currently popularising generic medicines, but still certain doubts exist even among doctors and how far the RMPs are aware of generic medicines is a big issue. They influence a lot of uneducated people, so the knowledge, attitude and practices they follow have a large impact on society.Methods: A cross sectional, prospective study was undertaken to assess the knowledge, attitude and the practices of 152 RMPs on generic medicines for a period of three months. A 23-item questionnaire was well designed, pre-validated and distributed to RMPs in and around Guntur district. The results were analysed using descriptive statistics.Results: 92% of the participants were aware of generic drugs. More than 80% believed that they are equivalent in terms of efficacy and safety to their branded counterparts and are available at reasonable prices. 95.4% RMPs believed that prescribing generic drugs will decrease the pharmaco-economic burden of the country. Almost all of them agreed on the need for the updates and education on generics by means of continuing medical education (CMEs).Conclusions: The participants had good amount of knowledge on generic drugs but there are concerns regarding quality and therapeutic efficacy of generic drugs. Proper awareness about the generic prescription practice may improve the patient compliance by reducing economic burden to the patients.