Karnataka - Mysore   

A pain: Doctors’ illegible handwriting

MYSORE: The age-old menace of doctors’ illegible handwriting has apparently reached alarming levels with the number of mix-ups in dispensation of drugs by pharmacists rising in proportion to the increase in brands of medicine, exposing patients to health hazards that may also be threaten their lives.

Unable to decipher the sloppy handwriting of most doctors, the pharmacists of Mysore, a couple of months ago, had submitted a representation to the then Health Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy seeking issue of printed prescription of drugs by doctors in an attempt to bring down the rate of erroneous dispensation of medicine.

But, the pharmacists’ efforts have brought about little change as doctors, most of who have not kept printers in their clinics, continue to write down “confusing” prescriptions.

Secretary of Mysore District Chemists and Druggists’ Association Narendra Babu told The Hindu that the then Health Minister had forwarded the representation to the Principal Health Secretary for taking up the issue with the Indian Medical Association. “We don’t know what happened after that. The Government also changed. Now, we will have to follow it up with the new dispensation,” he said. The rise in the number of brands of medicine has compounded the problem.

Mr. Raghavan admitted that all doctorsmay not have the infrastructure to issue printed prescriptions. “At least, the doctors should write prescriptions in capital letters that are easily decipherable by pharmacists,” he said.

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