§ Mr. Eldon Griffithsasked the Secretary of State for Defence if doctors practising in the armed services are required to prescribe generic rather than branded drugs; and what estimate he can make of the percentage of the total drugs prescribed that are generic.
§ Mr. LeeI refer to the answer given to the hon. Member for Holborn and St. Pancras (Mr. Dobson) on 12 November 1984 at column156, when I stated that it has long been Ministry of Defence policy to insist on generic dispensing of drugs whenever a generic equivalent of the item prescribed exists. There are of course many branded drugs which have no generic equivalent. It has not been possible to estimate the proportions of service prescriptions for branded and generic drugs.