H1N1: Evidence-Based Medicines To All Categories Of Patients Not Required

CHANDIGARH, 16 FEB 2019: While highlighting the importance of evidence-based medicines, the PGI doctors say that often doctors prescribe Tamiflu for H1N1 to all categories of patients when it's not required. The PGI doctors said that it’s the pharmaceutical companies who convince the doctors for such unnecessary prescriptions. This was discussed a day before the evidence-based workshop that will commence from Saturday in PGI.

“Evidence-based medicine is a systemic review of all scientific studies which is then meta analysed for making a database. The same is used by doctors in their day-to-day practice. However, there are doctors who are convinced by pharmaceutical companies and prescribe unnecessary drugs,” said Prof Meenu Singh, department of paediatrics medicine, PGI.

Citing another instance of not following evidence-based medicine, Dr Sourabh Dutta, department of paediatrics medicine, said, “Antibiotics are consumed for viral infection. This has caused antimicrobial resistance whereby none of the drugs works in the patients as they develop resistance against these microbes.”

The PGI has advanced centre for evidence-based child health centre established since 2012. A national conference and workshop on Evidence Based Medicine: EBCON 2019 is scheduled to be organized by department of pediatrics from February 16. “We often follow the medical practices and databased generated by the west. There are few Indian specific databases which we can follow,” said Dr Sourabh.

The department of health research, Indian Council of Medical Research, is trying to generate standard workflow that will become a part of the national guideline for few major diseases. “This will be evidence based. Once we have this in place, there will be better management as these guidelines will be generated after lot of extensive research,” said Dr Sourabh. ET Healthworld