3 days ago
Doctor's mission to improve prescription clarity gains momentum across Karnataka
GADAG: A doctor from Karnataka has been revolutionising the way prescriptions are written by promoting clear and legible handwriting among medical professionals for over two decades. Dr Shantagiri Mallappa, 48, has been consistently writing prescriptions in capital letters in English and training hundreds of doctors to adopt the same practice to prevent misreading and medication errors.
In 2003, Dr Shantagiri founded the Karnataka State Doctors' Handwriting Improvement Association, aiming to improve the legibility of prescriptions. Since then, he has collaborated with handwriting experts and like-minded doctors to organise hundreds of handwriting improvement camps across Karnataka. Thousands of doctors have benefitted from his initiative, and the association now marks its 22nd year.
Based originally in Hulkoti, Gadag district, Dr Shantagiri has been based in Bengaluru for the past two decades. The idea struck him after observing illegible prescriptions in Bengaluru hospitals. To combat confusion—particularly between similarly spelled drugs like Arkamine and Artamine—he began writing all prescriptions in capital letters, a practice he follows to this day.
