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Published in TOI today.
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Bar on docs from accepting freebies soon

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata: The Centre will soon ban doctors from accepting gifts and other freebies, including foreign trips, from pharmaceutical companies, by amending the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said on Sunday. He was speaking at the West Bengal Medical Convention organized by the Nationalistic Doctors’ Forum.
“Pharmaceutical companies send doctors on foreign trips and load them with gifts. So, instead of giving normal free medicines and some that are cheaper, the doctors prescribe medicines to please these companies whose hospitality and patronage they enjoy. This is not a healthy practice. However, there is no law at the moment to prohibit the pharmaceutical companies and the doctors. We are going to ban this soon,” Azad said.
Only a couple of days ago, the Medical Council of India had written to the Union health and family welfare ministry seeking an amendment to the IMC Regulations to prohibit doctors from accepting gifts from pharmaceutical or allied healthcare firms.