![]() ![]() Initially, this provision was intended to address the needs of communities where there were no pharmacists. A recent trend noted in metropolitan cities is that many RMPs are doing home visits to treat patients, especially in disabled and geriatric services. Although this practice is decreasing in major cities, it continues to be prevalent in semi-urban and rural areas. This also includes home visits done by (RMPs), when medicines are carried in a doctor's bag to dispense to their patients. This dual role of prescribing and dispensing of medication is common in all system of practice. ![]() However, it is not uncommon to see the registered medical practitioners (RMPs) performing both the dual role of prescribing and dispensing medicine. The World Health Organization describes “Dispensing” as a process of preparing and giving medicine to a named person on the basis of a prescription from a registered practitioner. This article focuses on the ethical and legal issues of this practice and emphasizes the need for a proactive and dynamic approach to meet the rising demand for quality healthcare in India. ![]() Dispensing and selling of medicines by RMPs at their clinics to their patients may represent a significant potential conflict of interest with the medical ethical principles, namely autonomy, beneficence, and non-maleficence and it raises various ethical and legal challenges. Further, the kind of branded medicines a patient gets from the clinics will come wrapped in a huge profit margin for RMPs, and this has been an alternative source of income to them. Prescribing and dispensing medicines at the same time to their patients by registered medical practitioners (RMPs) is a well-known practice in all systems of medicine across the country. In India, manufacturing, storing, transportation, distribution, and dispensing of drugs are licensed and regulated under the drugs and cosmetic act, 1940 Indian Medical Council Act, 1956 the Pharmacy Act, 1948 and the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985. ![]()
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