§ Mr. Sheermanasked the Secretary of State for Social Services whether he will take steps to promote the use of the drug Methyldopa instead of the more expensive branded drug Aldomet for National Health Service prescriptions.
§ Dr. VaughanUnder his terms of service a general practitioner is required to prescribe whatever he considers necessary for the treatment of his patient. Although I do not think it would be right to depart from this principle, which leaves the choice of treatment to each doctor's professional judgment, the Department asks doctors, with the support of the British Medical Association, to take into account relative costs where alternative forms of treatment are likely to be equally effective.