JOIN US'Docs should address adverse effects of drugs'
While several prescribed drugs tend to have adverse effects on patients, there was “gross under-reporting” about these cases in the country, said Dr Y K Gupta, National Scientific Coordinator of Pharmacovigilance Programme of India (PvPI).
He was speaking at a training programme on pharmacovigilance, jointly organised by International Society of Pharmacovigilance, the Uppsala Monitoring Centre, an independent foundation and a centre for scientific research, and JSS University, at JSS Hospital premises, on Monday.
Pharmacovigilance (PV) involves collection of data, detection and prevention of adverse effects of pharmaceutical products. In order to detect adverse reaction of drugs on patients, PV centers have been set up in 400 medical colleges across the country, he said.
There was also a proposal to make PV centers mandatory for every medical college. Performance of the centres might also be included in the accreditation system of institutes in the future, he added.
Unless data collection improves, it would be difficult to ban some drugs in the country, he said. Absence of adequate data, had forced courts to strike down petitions, which had demanded a ban on some drugs, he added.
He said that PvPI aimed to reach all medical practitioners in the country in the next five years and sensitise them about reporting cases of adverse reactions.
“There are several challenges involved in reporting such cases. Physicians have apprehensions about reporting them. They feel that reporting such cases of patients being affected by a prescribed drug would reflect badly on their practice. However, doctors should consider it a social obligation to report such cases,” he said.
150 centres
Dr B Suresh, Vice Chancellor of JSS University said that despite the launch of PvPI in India, 16 years ago, concerted efforts were required to make the programme a success. “There are only 150 officially recognised centres to recognise adverse drug reactions in the country. The number is insufficient and should be increased,” he said.
Noting that participation of pharma industry was limited under PvPI, he said that the industry should increase its efforts in providing assistance during such problems faced by patients.
DH News Service