Pharma sales reps can visit govt hospitals twice a week

The representatives of pharmaceutical companies are now allowed to meet doctors in the government hospitals only twice a week, reports bdnews24.com.
They must obtain prior permission from the hospital authorities, while maintaining prohibition on taking photos of patients' prescriptions.
The directives were issued on Thursday through a circular signed by A K M Fazlul Haque Khan, director (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), and were sent to the directors of all government hospitals and institutes nationwide.
The circular outlines eight specific directives. Of these, directive number six states that from now on, pharmaceutical company representatives can meet doctors only on Mondays and Thursdays, between 12:00 pm and 2:30 pm. No company representative will be allowed to remain within the premises of a government hospital outside these hours.
All representatives must visibly display the ID cards issued by their respective companies during the meeting. Lists of medicines, supplied by private pharmaceutical companies, cannot be kept on hospital tables.
Complaints about pharmaceutical company representatives crowding hospitals and doctors' chambers are long-standing. This causes patients' distress and disrupts the hospital's work environment.
There are also allegations that representatives try to influence doctors to prescribe unnecessary medicines from specific companies.