Legislation against unethical medical practices suggested

Stakeholders from different walks of life have recommended urgent formulation of guidelines with regard to relationship between medical professionals and pharmaceutical industry across the country.
Medical professionals, representatives of pharmaceutical industry, civil society members and religious scholars during a panel discussion organised by Pakistan Islamic Medical Association here on Sunday also suggested need for stringent vigilance to help combat prevalent unethical practices registered in healthcare sector of the country.
The seminar-cum-panel discussion arranged as part of two-day 10th biennial convention of PIMA was attended by delegates from across the country. It was unanimously adopted that a formal group comprising all stakeholders, including representatives from the national healthcare sector, media and consumer rights organisations, would formulate guidelines and recommendations on the relationship between doctors and pharmaceutical industry and act as a watchdog against the prevalent unethical practices associated with the issue.
The session was chaired by Professor S. Azhar Ahmad and the panellists included Professor Ejaz Ahmed Vohra, Dr Mahmood Ahmed Ghazi, Dr Amir Jaffery, Dr Khalid Zaheer, Asif Misbah, Shaukat Javed and Haroon Qasim.
The panellists urged the government to legislate on the critical issue of unethical marketing practices in the pharmaceutical industry registered to be influencing rational and evidence-based medical practice among doctors imposing. They also suggested legal action against medical professionals, institutions and pharmaceutical organisations found guilty of misconduct and malpractices.
Leading physician Professor Ejaz Ahmed Vohra called for the need of serious deliberations on the relationship ethics between healthcare industry and doctors to clarify the misunderstandings about the various grey areas yet to be identified as ethical or unethical. Dr Amir Jaffery of the Centre of Biomedical Ethics at SIUT and Asif Misbah, representing pharmaceutical industry also spoke on this occasion.