India considers legislation to make doctors prescribe generic drugs

SURAT, India — India could set a global precedent by legally requiring doctors to prescribe generic medicines.

According to several published reports, India Prime Minister Narenda Modi stated he supports legislation that requires that if a doctor writes a prescription, “he or she has to write in it that it will be enough for patients to buy generic medicine and he need not buy any other medicine.”

"It is the government's responsibility that everybody should get health services at minimal price," Modi said at the inauguration of a charitable hospice. “ … "In our country doctors are less, hospitals are less and medicines are expensive. If one person falls ill in a middle class family, then the financial health of the family gets wrecked."

It is uncertain if the United States will attempt a similar tactic, but Trump Administration office have repeatedly said they want to lower drug prices by having the Food and Drug Administration approve generic drugs faster.