Abstract
Objective: Knowledge of doctors and their understanding of generic drugs could facilitate in recognizing potential barriers to larger generic medicine prescriptions. Hence, the primary objective of this study was focused to explore knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of doctors toward generic medicines.
 Methods: It is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study. The study participants are the doctors working in the hospital during the study period (2016–2017). The questionnaire designed for this study comprised of thirty-five questions related to the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) of generic medicine and about demographic details of the participants.
 Results: A total of 86 questionnaires were distributed among the health care professionals and the response rate is 37%. The majority of doctors who participated in this survey perceived that generic medicine is effective, safe and need to have the same active component, dose and bioequivalent as the brand name medicines. Most of the doctors (72%) were of the view that generic drugs were manufactured in poor quality than branded medicines. More than three-quarters of doctors (78%) prescribed generic drugs.
 Conclusion: Majority of the participants had an honest angle about the efficaciousness and safety of generic and though they sometimes prescribe generic medicine, however a high range of doctors (72%) were of the opinion that generic was of poorer quality than brand medicine. To have a better understanding of the generic drug, the doctor must be well informed about the generics during their academic career resulting in savings to healthcare budgets.
Highlights
Healthcare expenditure is increasing steadily worldwide and prescription drug spending is increasing and out-of-pocket expenses are 80% of total health-care expenditures [1]
Response rate-A total of 86 questionnaires was distributed among the health care professionals and 32 responded
Seventy-eight percent (78%) doctors agreed that generic medicine is bioequivalent to a brand name medicine
Summary
Healthcare expenditure is increasing steadily worldwide and prescription drug spending is increasing and out-of-pocket expenses are 80% of total health-care expenditures [1]. Outof-pocket payment is as high as 80% of healthcare spending and a similar scenario are observed in the Indian healthcare system. Most healthcare expenses are paid out of pocket by patients and their families, rather than through medical insurance. This has led over 35% of Indian households to incur Catastrophic Health Expenditure (CHE) and poses a burden of affordability of medicine [2, 3]. Generic medicine utilization is often encouraged to curb the cost of medicine as the generic product are usually lower in price than innovator brands leading to substantial savings of health care expenditure [4,5,6]
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