Jharkhand asks doctors to write prescriptions in capital letters

Ranchi, Oct 6: Doctors are known to be people with worst handwriting on earth and none other than the pharmacists seem to be capable of deciphering them. To lessen the patient parties' woes, the government of Jharkhand recently made it mandatory for both government and private doctors to pen prescriptions only in block letters.

In a notification issued on September 21, the state government has asked the doctors of all government hospitals and private nursing homes to follow the Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002, that seeks writing the generic name of drugs besides penning prescriptions only in bold letters, a Hindustan Times report said.

The notification was issued by Akhauri Shashank Sinha, the state's deputy secretary of health, medical education and family welfare department. A directive issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) on September 28, 2016, had also asked doctors to prescribe drugs with generic names legibly and in bold letters.

The report cited highly placed sources in the state health department to say a violation of the regulations would lead to a warning first, suspension of a registration for a certain period in second occurrence and the cancellation of registration in the third.

There were, however, voices saying the new order could increase the problem for the patients since writing a prescription in capital letter will consume more time, delaying the service.