NEW DELHI: On the occasion of 56th National Pharmacy Week (NPW) celebrations, an e-Poster competition and roundtable discussion on “Prescribing Generic Versus Branded Medicines: Impact & Implications on Healthcare” were organized on 21st November 2017 at Delhi Pharmaceutical Sciences & Research University (DPSRU), New Delhi in collaboration with Indian Pharmaceutical Association (IPA)-Delhi State Branch. The objective of the roundtable was to sensitize and create awareness towards prescribing medicines either generics or branded in India and accountability of healthcare professionals like practitioners, industry professionals, pharmacists, etc. to follow the best practices in healthcare.
Prof Harvinder Popli, Dean, DPSRU welcomed the gathering; while Prof Ramesh K. Goyal, Vice-Chancellor, DPSRU; and Dr S. Dwivedi, Chairman, BOG, DPSRU gave opening remarks on the theme of the roundtable. Various dignitaries invited for the discussion included Dr Vinod Sharma, Vice CEO, National Heart Institute, who deliberated on ‘Clinician view-point on prescribing generic medicine’; Dr Naresh Sharma, President of IPA (Delhi State Branch) & Assistant Drugs Controller (India), CDSCO (Is the current regulatory framework suitable to promote generics or require any changes); Dr Dinesh Kumar, Head of IPR & General Manager, Jubilant Generics Ltd. (Industrial perspective on prescribing generics: Business impact versus public health); Bejon Misra, Consumer Policy Expert (Need of generic prescription to meet Government objective of health for all); and Rohit Mehra, Director General of BPPI spoke on ‘Initiative of Janaushadhi: Current status & gaps in its implementation’. The session was very interesting and the students actively participated in the deliberations.
Also, e-Poster competition was held to create motivation and generate awareness among the students about NPW. A total of 30 posters were received which were judged by Dr Sushama Talegaonkar, Associate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, DPSRU; Dr Jaseela Majid; and Ms Rakhi Ahuja. During the concluding session, the winners of the top three posters were given prizes and certificates were given to all the participants. Finally, the programme concluded with vote of thanks proposed by Dr Raman Dang, Registrar of DPSRU.
