40 private clinics shut in Helmand

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Forty private clinics have been shut over issuing code based prescriptions to the patients in Lashkargha, the capital of southern Helmand province, and some districts, an official said on Tuesday. Public Health Director Dr. Syed Ahmad Saeed told Pajhwok Afghan News during an exclusive interview their monitoring teams had launched its work from the past five months province-wide. He said the clinics of 40 physicians had been closed in the past one month over issuance of code bases prescriptions to the patients. “We launched this process from the past five months, first sent official letters to all physicians, then we gathered them and warned them against issuing code based prescriptions,” he said. Saeed said: “They did not showed compliance and last month we shut the clinics of 40 physicians who violated the orders, this also included large hospitals.” He said in the first step the clinics would be closed for three days and in the second step the clinics would be shut for 15 days and for the third time if they violated their orders then they would be referred to the court. Local residents have hailed these steps taken by the Public Health Department. Zabihullah, the resident of Bolan area in Lashkargah, said he welcomed the Public Health Department step to prevent code based prescriptions. Some physicians have their own drugstores and they write code based prescriptions to the patients to force them purchase medicines from their own stores. Khan, the resident of Gerishk district, also complained that some physicians issued prescriptions to patients who could not find the drugs in general drug stores. It is pertinent to mention that in some provinces people had complained against code based prescriptions issued by some physicians. These medicines could be only in the drug store owned by the same physician.