The prescribing habits of doctors in a metropolitan city and economic consequences of such practices.

Four thousand prescriptions were studied to observe the prescription pattern and habit of the doctors practising in the city of Calcutta. Ten most common ailments were identified and their treatment and investigations were taken into account for judging the rationality of such action. Both, estimated rational prescription cost and actual cost of the prescription were determined to identify any cost variation between prescription written rationally and irrationally.