What must be on a prescription in India

A prescription is read by three people: the patient, the pharmacist and, sometimes years later, another doctor or a court. It has to tell each of them the same thing without a phone call. This page lists what belongs on it and where each rule comes from.

This is general information for practising doctors, not legal advice. Rules change; check the National Medical Commission's website for the current regulations.

#What the regulations ask for

The Indian Medical Council (Professional Conduct, Etiquette and Ethics) Regulations, 2002 are the reference most doctors know. Two clauses matter for the prescription itself:

• Clause 1.4.2: a doctor should display the registration number given by their State Medical Council (or the national register) in the clinic and on all prescriptions, certificates and money receipts given to patients.
• Clause 1.5 (as amended in 2016): every doctor should prescribe drugs with generic names, legibly and preferably in capital letters, and ensure rational prescription and use of drugs.

In August 2023 the National Medical Commission notified new Registered Medical Practitioner (Professional Conduct) Regulations, 2023, which went further on generic prescribing, and then held them in abeyance within weeks. Check the NMC website for the position today before you rely on either set.

Courts have also taken an interest in legibility. High Courts have directed doctors to write clearly, in capitals, or to type prescriptions, and have described an illegible prescription as a risk to the patient's health.

#The checklist

#About you

• Your name, as registered.
• Qualifications (for example MBBS, MD (Medicine)). Print only degrees you hold and are registered for.
• Registration number and the council that issued it, for example Reg. No. WBMC 67890, West Bengal Medical Council.
• Clinic name, address and phone, and timings if you like, so the pharmacist or patient can reach you.

#About the patient and the visit

• Patient's full name, age and sex. Age matters for dosing; sex matters for some drugs.
• Date of the visit.
• Weight for children, and whenever you dose by weight.
• Known allergies, even "no known allergies". It is the first thing a pharmacist should see.
• Diagnosis or provisional diagnosis. Not every doctor writes it, but it helps the next doctor and protects you.

#For each medicine

• Name, generic first; add a brand only if you have a reason. In capitals if you write by hand.
• Strength and form: PARACETAMOL 650 mg tablet.
• Dose and how often: 1 – 0 – 1 is common, but spell it out on the first line for patients new to the notation: one tablet morning and night.
• Timing: before or after food, at bedtime.
• For how long: 5 days, or until review. "Continue" without an end is the most common gap.
• Total quantity for scheduled drugs, where the rules ask for it.

#At the end

• Advice, in the patient's language if you can: diet, rest, warning signs.
• Follow-up date or when to return.
• Your signature. A stamp alone is not a signature.

#Common gaps that cause trouble

• No registration number. The most common gap on home-printed pads. Print it under your name so it can never be forgotten.
• Abbreviations only the writer understands. OD, BD, HS are known to pharmacists but not to patients, and OD is read as "once daily" in some places and "right eye" in others. Write the words.
• Two medicines that look alike in handwriting. Capitals help; typing removes the problem.
• Missing duration. Patients stop too early or continue for months.

#Getting it right every time

A printed pad with your name, qualifications and registration number already on it covers the first section for good. You can make one here for free in A5 or A4.

If you want the rest to be legible too, RxKite prints the whole prescription: medicine names in capitals by default, your registration number and council on every page, allergies in red, and each visit kept under the patient so the next one starts from the last.