[india-drug] Core Drug Use Indicators

[owner-india-drug@healthnet.org]

Core Drug Use Indicators
-------------------------

Dear India Drug participants,				

I am looking forward to feedback, comments or advice regarding a few
observations that came up in the field visit while monitoring the
progress of Drug Use Indicators. The field visits have proven to be
beneficial.

A genuine concern of the physicians although not brought out
frequently, was the quality of the drugs that were being made available
at the government facilities. We were told that most of the times the
drugs did not seem to work and hence the physicians were forced to
prescribe a brand name drug to be bought from a private vendor. The
other comment regarding this was that some patients were demanding for
a prescription that could be taken to a private vendor.
How did we manage to lose the physicians as well as the patients?
confidence in the government supplied medicines? I am sure that there
are cultural and regional beliefs that could influence these opinions.
But, have we undermined the concept of quality control to a point that
we have lost the confidence of our own staff. 

There has to be further research to understand the socio-behavioral
aspect of the prescribing habits.

Audit of the prescriptions that are going out ? if all the drugs that
go on these prescriptions are brand named or have some generics on them
also, will help authenticate the claims made by the physicians about
the quality concerns.

By correcting and perfecting the Means (Quality of the drugs) we would
have better leverage in advising our practitioners to prescribe from
the list of drugs available in the facility. The success of the
Standard Treatment Guidelines and the Essential Drug List can
indirectly rely on the drug quality aspect. Our administrators in the
Drug Supply Management System may need to be paying special attention
to the quality of the drugs that are being received by the health care
facilities. 
  
I am looking forward to receive comments /feedback from those of you
who have the experience of conducting studies regarding Drug Use
Indicators. 

Thanking You,
Warm Regards
Aruna Setty

ARUNA SETTY
BOSTON UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH 
arunasetty@hotmail.com  


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