Open AccessAvailability of essential medicines: A primary health care perspective
Author(s) -
Rohit Dixit,
M Vinay,
T. Jayasree,
Shaikh Ubedulla,
V S Manohar,
N. Chandrasekhar
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
indian journal of pharmacology/the indian journal of pharmacology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.286
H-Index - 59
eISSN - 1998-3751
pISSN - 0253-7613
DOI - 10.4103/0253-7613.84981
Subject(s) - essential medicines , medicine , essential drugs , primary health care , access to medicines , traditional medicine , pharmacology , family medicine , medical emergency , environmental health , nursing , public health , health services , population
The present study was undertaken to assess the availability of the essential medicines to the people of Kunijarla, Khammam district, AP. This was done in two steps: 1) Comparison of PHC-EML (primary health care essential medicines list) with AP-EML (Andhra Pradesh essential medicines list) and NEML (National essential medicines list); and 2) Assessment of availability of the listed medicines in adequate quantity to meet the needs of people of kunijarla. Results showed that the PHC-EML is on par with AP-EML and NEML. The hospital has 100% availability of the listed medicines; however, there was a need for certain add-on drugs like phenytoin tablets, valproic acid, and activated charcoal since they were prescribed frequently and were not included in PHC-EML. All the drugs which were listed in PHC-EML were being used and none were considered as non-utility supply. Suggestions were given for the revision of PHC-EML according to the criteria for identifying medicines for inclusion in the revised list which was mentioned in NEML.