Physicians demand to withdraw prohibition on prescribing nutraceuticals

ISLAMABAD: Federal health ministry has come under severe criticism by senior healthcare professionals for prohibiting physicians and surgeons from prescribing multivitamins, minerals and food supplements to the patients, and demanded the health ministry to withdraw its directives in this regard.

Some senior healthcare professionals even sent ‘notes of dissent’ to Federal Health Minister Dr Nadeem Jan regarding the health ministry’s notification of prohibiting doctors from prescribing nutraceuticals.

Advising the health ministry to consult physicians and surgeons before issuing such notifications, senior healthcare professionals said nowhere in the world physicians and surgeons are restricted from prescribing multivitamins, minerals and food supplements as they are scientifically proven for treating dozens of medical conditions.

“Millions of children in Pakistan need micronutrients and oral zinc for the treatment of diarrhea, while women need standardized iron folate or multiple micronutrients as well as calcium supplements in pregnancy as per global and WHO recommendations. Why their use is being restricted as these are all registered products with DRAP and part of the government’s essential drug lists,” questioned Dr Zulifiqar Bhutta, a pediatrician and health scientist.

Former Special Assistant to Prime Minister (SAPM) on health Dr Faisal Sultan also expressed his reservations on ministry’s notification regarding ban on nutraceuticals prescribing, saying although vitamins, minerals and supplements were being used for unproven or non-scientific indications, there were many very clear scientific uses of them too. Vitamin A is used for treatment prevention of measles, night blindness, xerophthalmia, vitamin B1 for chronic alcohol use, wernicke encephalopathy, korsakoff psychosis, beri beri and thiamine deficiency, vitamin B2 for riboflavin deficiency, vitamin B3 for dyslipidemia and pellagra while vitamin B6 for Isoniazid (TB treatment drug) to prevent neuropathy, he explained.

Several other healthcare professionals, gynecologists, orthopedic surgeons and even pharmacists criticized the Health Ministry for a blanket ban on prescribing nutraceuticals and demanded the ministry to come up with clear guidelines for prescribing them on the pattern of US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and National Health Services (NHS) of UK.