Pharmaceutical sales representatives can visit hospitals twice a week

They are directed to visit government hospitals only on Mondays and Thursdays, between 12pm and 2:30pm

The representatives of pharmaceutical companies are now allowed to meet doctors in government hospitals only twice a week.

They must obtain prior permission from the hospital authorities, while maintaining prohibition on taking photos of patients’ prescriptions.

The directives were issued last Thursday in a circular signed by AKM Fazlul Haque Khan, director (administration) of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), and have been 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 may meet doctors only on Mondays and Thursdays, between 12pm and 2:30pm. 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, it read.

Lists of medicines supplied by private pharmaceutical companies cannot be kept on hospital tables, according to directives from the health directorate.

Complaints about pharmaceutical company representatives crowding hospitals and doctors' chambers are long-standing. This causes patient 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.

The directives are part of the measures taken by the interim government to improve discipline in the health sector.