Pharma firms may be banned from offering incentives to doctors to push their products, but at the annual conference of paediatricians being held in Bengaluru, a flyer carrying 'Sankranti bonanza' is doing the rounds, offering items like digital weighing scales, gold coins and stethoscope as gifts for doctors ordering vaccines in bulk for diseases like typhoid and rota virus.?
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While the flyer doesn't mention the name of any pharmaceutical company, a doctor said it was found only at the booth of one pharmaceutical company. The meeting's chief organiser, however, denied doctors were being offered freebies.
"There's no such thing. There are never any incentives for vaccines," he said. If someone buys vaccines in bulk, they may get a reduction in the overall price,'' said Dr Karunakara. "I have been a pediatrician for 18 years, and, believe me, there is no such thing as an incentive offered to doctors,'' he added.?
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The Medical Council of India (MCI) prohibits pharmaceutical companies from offering incentives and freebies to doctors. But the flyer offering a 'Sankranti bonanza' was distributed at the annual conference of paediatricians. "It mentions that doctors ordering 100TCV (vaccine against typhoid) plus 100ROTA (vaccine against rota virus) can choose between a 'digital baby weighing machine' or 'ttmann stethoscope Class III' as free gifts," said a doctor attending the 54th PEDICON conference. For a free gold coin, doctors have to order 150 each of both vaccines.?
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A similar incident occurred at PEDICON 2016 as well, but then the flyer had the logo of the Hyderabad-based company Bharat Biotech. The old flyer offered doctors a pearl set for placing orders of 50 vaccines each of typhoid and rota, and an iPhone 5s for orders of 200 vaccines each.?
The company's national marketing head, Raghu Reddy, said the flyers were "pure mischief". "We fear the flyers were made and distributed by multinationals who are worried about a company's growth. We have tried for a year to locate the culprits, but failed," he said.?