KARACHI: The Jinnah Medical Centre (JPMC) management seems to have failed to break the nexus between doctors and representatives of pharmaceutical companies as the influence of medical reps are rising day by day in the health facility.
The medical sales representatives and medical practitioners were not following the directives issued by the hospital management due to poor check and balance system, due to which the patients’ care in the rush hours has been affected.
The unchecked practice of representatives’ meeting with doctors during OPD hours makes the patients suffer a lot in the health facility as some doctors are prescribing costly medicines with the direction to purchase them from targeted medical stores so as to increase the sales of their favourite pharmaceutical companies. The hospital administration is unable to control these illegal activities as medical representatives are openly violating the medical ethics.
An administrative official wished not be named told PPI that representatives of pharmaceutical companies reach every day in the hospital about 9:00 am and remain till 2:00 pm without any hindrance. They keep visiting different wards and OPDs to get doctors attention by violating ban imposed by JPMC administration on them due to poor monitoring and vigilance system.
The influence of medical reps has badly affected the patient care in a hospital in rush hours as some doctors spend most of their time with them instead of providing consultation to patients who come from far flung areas of Sindh province of treatment.