KPK Doctors Asked to Use Standardized Prescription Forms

Doctors in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) will prescribe medicines on a standardized prescription form as per KPK Health Department’s notification.

The new prescription form includes all the necessary details such as:

• course duration,
• dosage
• quantity of the medicines
• Pakistan Medical and Dental Council (PMDC) registration number of the doctor.

It will be used across the province as advised by the authorities.

The use of standardized forms was agreed after mutual consultation between the doctors, health department officials and other relevant stakeholders.

Following the new directives, plain writing pads can no longer be used for prescribing medicines. strict compliance has been advised by the authorities:

I am therefore enclosing the standard performa for directions to doctors to kindly be instructed to use the same for prescription writing along with total adherence to dispensing protocol by the pharmacist with immediate effect – Health Secretary KPK

The health department will be keeping a check ensuring compliance with the newly issued notification. The new medical practice’s progress will be reviewed by officials and other stakeholders over the course of next two months.

Why Standardized Prescriptions?

Earlier in March, the KPK Health Department had highlighted the issues with the current prescription practices in the province including:

• No inclusion of all the necessary components of a prescription
• Poor legibility
• Missing physician’s name and PMDC registration number
• Missing diagnosis or indication
• Missing doctor’s signature
• Missing directions for using medicines
• Likelihood of drug resistance when prescriptions are made in a hurry without asking about the patient’s drug history
• Lack of consultation with a pharmacist
• Non-conformance with World Health Organization’s Dos and Donts

The notification is aimed at harmonizing the prescription practices across the province, ensuring a standard operating procedure to be followed which would help in maintaining check and balance on the practising doctors.