47-year-old Chilkuri Paramathma is practicing as pharmacist for about 25 years. He is filing innumerable PILs and numerous communications with Union Health Ministry, the MCI, the Drugs Controller-General of India (DCGI) and the Director-General of Health Services (DGHS) to enforce all the doctors to write their prescriptions in capital letters.
The illegible handwriting led to several dangers in the country and took away several lives. Often Pharmacists, take one drug for other and give it to the patients endangering their lives. Paramathma started his campaign against illegible handwriting in 2012 and finally was successful.
The Union health ministry is gearing up to issue a formal gazette notification that doctors must write the name of medicines, dosage, strength, duration and total quantity in “capital letters only”. The Medical Council of India (MCI) is already circulating a prescription format (to be used by doctors) to all state medical councils across the country.
