Ranchi, April 23: The disparity in medicine prices having the same generic composition has become a cause of worry among a group of doctors.

And they feel prescriptions speak a great deal about how much your doctor cares his patient.

If the doctor prescribes the most effective and cheapest medicine for your ailment then he sure keeps the economics in mind. But if all those prescribed fall in among the expensive brands and are same quality-wise then it sure is alarming, said a group of doctors and medical representatives.

For instance, Amlodac (5mg) and Amlogard (5mg) have a similar composition and are prescribed to cure high blood pressure but while the former costs Rs 15.10, the latter is priced around Rs 77. Prompted by such anomalies some doctors and medical representatives have urged a war against the prevailing system.

Similarly, for allergy there is cetirizene available in the market which is price at Rs 16 but another variant exists which is almost double the price at Rs 30 for the same quantity, said Ajay Kumar Singh, the former vice-president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA).

The disparity between the price of ciprofloxacyclin, an antibiotic is between Rs 39 and Rs 90 for a leaf of 10 tablets, he sais. “Such wide differences in the price by various pharmaceutical companies have led to controversial marketing strategies,” the former IMA vice-president added.

Anirban Bose, the secretary of Bihar-Jharkhand Sales Representatives’ Union said: “There is no logic behind such disparity between prices of the same medicine that have the same effect.” Following mergers and acquisitions, Bose said, the trend in high pricing has increased.

“Last October, a prominent pharmaceutical company took around 40 doctors on a foreign tour spending Rs 10 crore. Now patients are bearing the burden of this cost,” Bose added.

Now, the government has decided to charge excise duty on the maximum retail price, which too, has to be borne by the patient.

Earlier, manufacturers had to pay the duty on the cost of production.

To prevent such practice the Medical Council of India has advised doctors to use generic names instead of brand names, said P.D. Sinha, medical superintendent of Apollo Hospital, Ranchi.