Indian court orders doctors to fix handwriting, prescriptions must be legible

The Punjab and Haryana High Court in India has directed doctors to fix their handwriting, making their prescriptions legible for ordinary readers.

Just like all across the world, jokes about doctors’ encrypted prescriptions that can only be deciphered by pharmacists are common in India but a recent court order may change that.

In a completely different case involving allegations of rape, cheating and forgery by a woman, Judge Jasgurpreet Singh Puri directed the government to include handwriting lessons in medical schools within the next two years.

She added, “Until the government takes action, all doctors are directed to write prescriptions clearly in capital letters.”

The case filed by a woman alleged a man of sexually exploiting her and taking money in return for a government job. The defendant denied charges stating they had a consensual relationship.

The judge said that when she read the medico-legal report written by a government doctor, “It shook the conscience of this court as not even a word or a letter was legible,” prompting her to pass the order regarding prescription writing.

Following the court order, the President of the Indian Medical Association Dr Dilip Bhanushali has also recommended doctors to follow government guidelines and write prescriptions in bold letters that can be read by both patients and the chemists.