{"id":807652,"date":"2026-10-19T14:56:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/807652\/"},"modified":"2026-10-19T14:56:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-19T14:56:09","slug":"govt-docs-told-to-mention-generic-names-in-prescriptions-thiruvananthapuram-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/807652\/","title":{"rendered":"Govt docs told to mention generic names in prescriptions | Thiruvananthapuram News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/beans-261019-25113831-gj9n8jpeg.jpg\" alt=\"Govt docs told to mention generic names in prescriptions\" title=\"Representational AI-image\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/>Representational AI-image Thiruvananthapuram: The health department has issued a circular directing govt doctors to make generic names mandatory in prescriptions. The circular, amid the ongoing controversy over drug shortages in state-run hospitals, has also urged hospital staff to provide doctors with updated information on the availability of medicines.The directive is aimed at helping doctors prescribe medicines based on their availability and ensuring that patients receive timely treatment despite supply constraints.Hospitals have been instructed to share details of medicines in stock with doctors who are at the OP so that prescriptions can be made after checking availability. Making generic names mandatory is also expected to facilitate the identification of alternative medicines when specific brands are unavailable.The move comes amid mounting concerns over shortages of essential medicines in govt hospitals and allegations that patients are being forced to purchase medicines from outside.The drug shortage has triggered a political controversy in the state, with health minister K Muraleedharan attributing the problem to procurement delays and outstanding payments to pharmaceutical companies under the previous govt. The minister has said that steps, including local purchases and redistribution of available stocks between hospitals, have been taken to address the shortage.The health department has also been working on changes to the medicine procurement system to improve availability, reduce costs and ensure the timely supply of medicines to govt hospitals. The latest circular seeks to improve coordination between hospital administrations and doctors in prescribing medicines according to available stocks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Representational AI-image Thiruvananthapuram: The health department has issued a circular directing govt doctors to make generic names mandatory&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[168202,265108,107870,265104,265100,265099,200865,102,265102,257583,265106,114432,265114,265101,6591,259398,265116,151311,265105,265112,265109,47345,265110,265113,265111,265115,265118,265103,87578,265117,56,54,55,265107],"class_list":["post-807652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-alternative-medicines","tag-branded-medicines-unavailability","tag-drug-shortages","tag-essential-medicines-shortage","tag-generic-names-in-prescriptions","tag-government-doctors","tag-government-hospitals","tag-health","tag-health-department-circular","tag-health-minister-k-muraleedharan","tag-hospital-staff-coordination","tag-kerala-health-department","tag-local-purchases","tag-mandatory-generic-prescribing","tag-medication","tag-medicine-availability","tag-medicine-procurement-system-reform","tag-medicine-shortages","tag-op-prescriptions","tag-outstanding-payments","tag-patients-forced-to-buy-medicines-outside","tag-pharmaceutical-companies","tag-political-controversy","tag-previous-government","tag-procurement-delays","tag-redistribution-of-medicine-stocks","tag-reducing-medicine-costs","tag-state-run-hospitals","tag-thiruvananthapuram","tag-timely-supply-of-medicines","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-updated-stock-information"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}