[india-drug] Response to EDL at PHC

[hsudharshan@vsnl.com]

Response to EDL at PHC
----------------------


Dear India drug participant,

It is heartening to read the discussion regarding EDL at PHC Level.

It is no doubt a welcome step for the government to be responsible to
improve the accessibility of Essential drugs to the common man.

In order to deal with the apprehensions expressed by members in the
India drug group, it is required to take care of the following:

A. Central procurement / pooled procurement  followed &advocated by
Delhi Model is time tested and needs to be followed by all.
B. It has to be need based procurement. This calls for DUR (Drug
utilization reviews) to be conducted periodically.
C. It is all the more important to establish uniform guidelines for
obtaining admission of a drug to the EDL .

A drug requested for admission should be evaluated by the following
criteria:
1. Is there a justifiable need for the drug?
2. Is this need met by some other agent which is already on the EDL?
3. Has the drug received adequate clinical evaluation?
4. Does the toxicity caused by the drug outweigh the drug's benefits?
5. Does the expense of the drug justify its use?
6. Does the agent combine drugs which might be more appropriately
administered separately?

For all this to be feasible, the role of a Drugs & Therapeutic
committee becomes extremely important.

In Karnataka, the EDL & STG that has been prepared (with the active
role of the Drugs & Therapeutic Committee at the state level), is being
circulated to medical officers (during training programs) to get the
feed back for the inclusion / exclusion of drugs in the EDL. This step
is perceived as very important by the Drugs & Therapeutic committee
here,  to bring in the concept of ?ownership? for the EDL  &  STG.

Dr. H. Sudharshan
Chairman, Task force on H & FW, Govn of Karnataka
& Member of RUD committee, Karnataka 


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