22/10/2019
An assault of chemicals on the Patients:
We, the Indians, annually consume medicines costing ₹ 1, 36,000 crores(₹ 1 lakh 36 thousands crores).
According to the World Health Organisation:
“Irrational use of medicines is a major problem worldwide. WHO estimates that more than half of all medicines are prescribed, dispensed or sold inappropriately, and that half of all patients fail to take them correctly. The overuse, underuse or misuse of medicines results in wastage of scarce resources and widespread health hazards. Examples of irrational use of medicines include: use of too many medicines per patient ("poly-pharmacy"); inappropriate use of antimicrobials, often in inadequate dosage, for non-bacterial infections; over-use of injections when oral formulations would be more appropriate; failure to prescribe in accordance with clinical guidelines; inappropriate self-medication, often of prescription-only medicines; non-adherence to dosing regimes”.
In addition to the above, if we consider additional financial burden due to rampant prescriptions of branded medicines instead of the molecules, the Indians could be unnecessarily spending , approximately, ₹ 70, 000 crores more than what is actually needed. And we don’t know what is the impact of this, otherwise unnecessary consumption of medicines on the health.
No.......we don’t afford this...it’s a regulatory failure! It’s a gross injustice to the patients!
