At a time when most people type on keyboards, does handwriting still matter? For doctors in India, courts say yes -- because unclear prescriptions can mean the difference between life and death.
Court flags unreadable medico-legal report
The Punjab and Haryana High Court recently declared that a “legible medical prescription is a fundamental right.” The observation came during a bail hearing in a case involving allegations of rape, cheating, and forgery.
Justice Jasgurpreet Singh Puri said his conscience was “shaken” after examining a medico-legal report written by a government doctor, which he found completely illegible. The court order noted that prescriptions written in such a manner pose a serious risk to patients.
Clear handwriting or digital prescriptions
In his order, Justice Puri criticized the continued reliance on unreadable handwritten prescriptions when technology is widely available.
“It is shocking that government doctors are still writing prescriptions by hand which cannot be read by anybody except perhaps some chemists,” the judge said.
The court directed:
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Medical schools must introduce handwriting lessons.
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Doctors must write prescriptions in capital letters until digitisation is implemented.
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The government must roll out digital prescriptions within two years.
Doctors Respond to Court Order
Dr. Dilip Bhanushali, president of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), welcomed the idea of finding solutions but highlighted challenges.
He explained that while digital prescriptions are common in big cities, rural areas and small towns still rely heavily on handwritten notes. Overcrowded hospitals, where a doctor may see up to 70 patients a day, make neat handwriting difficult, he added.
The IMA has urged members to follow government guidelines and write prescriptions boldly and clearly to avoid errors.
Past Warnings and Global Concerns
This is not the first time courts have flagged the issue. The Odisha High Court once criticized doctors’ “zigzag style of writing,” while judges in Allahabad lamented prescriptions in handwriting “not decipherable at all.”
Globally, poor handwriting has had serious consequences. A 1999 Institute of Medicine report in the US linked sloppy handwriting to 7,000 preventable deaths annually. In Scotland, a woman once suffered chemical injuries after being given erectile dysfunction cream instead of dry eye medicine due to a misread prescription.
UK health authorities have admitted that drug errors cause significant harm and deaths, estimating that electronic prescribing could reduce errors by 50%.
Cases in India Highlight Dangers
India lacks national data, but past incidents show the risks are real. A woman once suffered convulsions after being given the wrong medicine with a similar-sounding name.
In 2014, pharmacist Chilukuri Paramathama filed a public interest petition after a three-year-old girl in Noida died when she was injected with the wrong drug for fever. His campaign led to the Medical Council of India’s 2016 order requiring doctors to write in generic names, legibly and preferably in capital letters.
In 2020, India’s junior health minister told parliament that states could take disciplinary action against doctors violating the order. Yet, nearly a decade later, illegible prescriptions remain widespread.
Pharmacies Still Struggle
Pharmacists across India continue to receive prescriptions they cannot read.
Ravindra Khandelwal, CEO of Dhanwantary pharmacy chain in Kolkata, said staff often need to call doctors directly to confirm prescriptions, even though his team is highly experienced.
“Sometimes prescriptions border on the illegible. We’ve seen more printed ones in cities, but suburban and rural areas still rely on handwritten notes,” he said.
A Matter of Life and Death
Experts stress the debate is not about handwriting aesthetics but about patient safety. Any ambiguity in a prescription can have tragic consequences.
With the High Court setting a timeline for digitization, the ruling may finally push India closer to safer, error-free medical practices.
