E-DRUG: The seven-year rule for safer prescribing (3)
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Dear E-druggers,
I agree with Dr Santanu (India) that "a deeper understanding of the advisory" is needed and that this may call for "an informed and vigilant
prescribing of a new drug during this seven year window rather than a *do not prescribe* approach".
As Dr Santanu says, "a *blind* recourse to the latter would perhaps tend to widen the window period further". Furthermore, there is a risk that the "do not prescribe" approach could result in two populations:
well-informed prescribers and patients who avoid the drug;
and
less well-informed prescribers and patients who take the drug.
Those who are less well-informed (especially poor people in low-income countries) could become the 7-year guinea-pigs for those who are well-informed (especially the middle classes in high-income countries).
With best wishes,
Neil
HIFA2015 profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is the
coordinator of the HIFA2015 campaign and
co-director of the Global Healthcare Information
Network. He is also currently chair of the
Dgroups Foundation, a partnership of 18
international development organisations promoting
dialogue for development. He started his career
as a hospital doctor in the UK, and has clinical
experience in rural Ecuador and Peru. For the
last 20 years he has been committed to the global
challenge of improving the availability and use
of relevant, reliable healthcare information for
health workers and citizens in low- and
middle-income countries. He is particularly
interested in the potential of inclusive,
interdisciplinary communication platforms to help
address global health and international
development challenges. He has worked with the
World Health Organization, the Wellcome Trust,
Medicine Digest and INASP (International Network
for the Availability of Scientific Publications).
He is based near Oxford, UK.
<http://www.hifa2015.org/>www\.hifa2015\.org neil.pakenham-walsh AT ghi-net.org