Kathmandu, March 4:

The Department of Drug Administration (DDA) has drafted a guideline for medical professionals to promote rationale in the use of medicines.

Bhupendra Bahadur Thapa, director at the DDA, said the guideline was drafted as per the suggestions of a study conducted recently by the Graduate Pharmacists’ Association-Nepal.

“The guideline is applicable to all the medical stakeholders and drug manufacturing companies,” the draft paper stated, adding: “The stakeholders are encouraged to take the guideline into account in developing their own sets of ethical standards in their own field relating to ethical promotion of medicine.”

“The DDA has also asked for comments on the draft from stakeholders and we are going to consider the comments while compiling the final draft,” Thapa said, adding, “The DDA will be monitoring whether stakeholders are following the guideline.”

The draft has included ares like promotion and advertising of medicines, company procedures and responsibilities, qualification and conduct of medical representatives, free samples of medicines for promotional purposes, symposia and other scientific meetings, surveillance and dissemination of information, packaging and labelling, among others.