In a move to promote low-cost generic medicines, the government plans to colour code such drugs to enable consumers to differentiate between generic medicines and other drugs and take an informed decision while purchasing them from chemists. Apart from colour coding, the government is also considering use of symbols to make generic medicines easily identifiable. The proposal to colour code generic medicines was discussed at a recent Drugs Consultative Committee meeting. The coding system is likely to be similar to that used in food products to differentiate between vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. The government is expected to soon draw a detailed proposal on the matter, which will be put out for stakeholder consultations.Of late, the health ministry has taken various measures to encourage the sale of generic medicines over branded ones. For instance, it has made it mandatory for pharmacies to have separate shelves for displaying generic drugs and asked doctors to prescribe d...
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