Bhubaneswar, Jan 12: The Odisha government has asked all doctors to write prescriptions in proper legible handwriting, officials said on Friday.

In accordance with an instruction from the Orissa High Court in this regard, Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena has issued the order.

“All registered medical practitioners/medical officers of government peripheral health care facilities, medical colleges, private clinics and private medical colleges are to write prescriptions in proper legible handwriting or in typed form as per guidelines of National Medical Commission,” the order reads.

Similarly, the medical professionals have also been instructed to write the the medico-legal reports and post mortem reports either in capital letters or in good handwriting.

While disposing of a petition, the High Court, in its order on January 4, said, “In many cases, the casual approach of most of the doctors while writing the post-mortem report is affecting the comprehension of medico-legal documents badly and the judicial system finds it very difficult to read those letters and come to a definite conclusion.”

The court also remarked that the tendency of writing prescriptions and medical reports in zig-zag handwriting, which cannot be read by any common man or by judicial officers, has become a fashion among the doctors of the State.

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The High Court directed the Chief Secretary to issue a circular to all the medical centres, private clinics and medical colleges and hospitals directing them to write in proper handwriting or in a type of form when they are prescribing medicine or writing some medico-legal reports.