German doctors should prescribe fewer drugs, especially for olderpatients, according to Jurgen Bausch, president of the panel doctors' association in the state of Hesse.
Leading drug research scientists are concerned that there is overprescribing for older people in hospitals. Few patients over 75 with multiple complaints leave hospital without being prescribed five or six different active ingredients, which means that an intake of 20 different tablets a day is no exception, says Mr Bausch. New guidelines suggest a reduction of this level of prescribing for the elderly to a maximum of three drugs per day.
The president of the Drugs Commission, Bruno Muller-Oerlinghausen, has described the current scene in Germany, with some 50,000 drugs on offer, as "a jungle."
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