Drug prescription and self-medication in India: An exploratory survey

Abstract

This paper reports a study of the prescribing and dispensing of drugs in India. The drugs supplied to 2400 patients by the public and private medical sectors and by private pharmacies (over the counter dispensing) were recorded, and were analysed with respect to the patient's presenting complaint and diagnosis. The main findings discussed in this paper are: It is concluded that a rational drugs policy and/or an essential drugs list will be useless unless accompanied by intensive efforts to improve the education and updating of doctors and pharmacists and to reduce the commercial pressures on doctors to prescribe unnecessary drugs.