[e-drug] Medical doctors & belief in brand names (4)

["Stephen Mawa" <stmawa@aim.com>]

E-DRUG: Medical doctors & belief in brand names (4)
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In Uganda, it is not uncommon for medical doctors to prescribe specific brands and insist their patients buy them.? As such there is a growing believe that branded medicines are superior to generic counterparts. I find it weird when patients walk into my pharmacy demanding for brands from specific countries (mainly Europe), and despising generics from Asia or local manufacturers, simply because their doctor discouraged the latter. Some will even tell you stories of how their disease failed to cure on "Indian medicines" until their doctor recommended a "stronger" medicine from Switzerland. 

Strange, but true...these are facts we deal with everyday as pharmacists.

Stephen Mawa,
Pharmacist,
MUWRP
Kampala, Uganda 
stmawa@aim.com