It is now a widely accepted fact that responsible self-medication plays an important role in health care, facilitating greater access to medicines and reducing overall health care cost. With continued improvement in people’s education, general knowledge and socioeconomic conditions, self-medication has been successfully integrated into many health care systems, throughout the world.This was emphasized in the paper “The benefits and risks of self-medication,” published by the World Health Organization (WHO) based on a presentation of the WHO Coordinator, Quality Assurance and Safety: Medicines, way back in March 2000.
Which is why, calibrated deregulation of prescription drugs for ‘Over the Counter (OTC)’ sale, are helping many countries to expand drug access in a cost-effective manner, facilitating overall health care, through responsible self-medication.
In this article, I shall try to explore the OTC drug issue in India, against the backdrop of the veracity of dangerous and virtually uncontrolled self-medication in the country. It will be interesting to recap where India stands in this area, despite the enactment of so many relevant laws and rules to eliminate this menace. In tandem, it will be worthwhile to fathom why is India still keeping away from promoting responsible self-medication through OTC drugs? Even when this is widely considered as one of the effective ways to improve access to drugs for specified common ailments at a reduced treatment cost for patients.
OTC Drug in India: ‘Where Art Thou?’ – becomes a relevant question in this context. Let me pick up the thread of this discussion from the general belief among a large number of domain experts that OTC drugs facilitate responsible self-medication.
OTC drugs facilitate responsible self-medication:
For greater clarity in this area, it will be worthwhile to first recapitulate the definition of self-medication. The W.H.O has defined itas, ‘the practice whereby, individuals treat their ailments and conditions with medicines which are approved and available without prescription, and which are safe and effective when used as directed.’
Whereas, self-medication with prescription drugs is not only an irresponsible act, it can often be dangerous to health for the users. On the other hand, OTC drugs facilitate responsible self-medication, as the drug regulators of respective countries have included under this category, with clear guidelines, only those medicines, which:
- Are of proven safety, efficacy and quality standard.
- And indicated only for conditions that are self-recognizable, and some common chronic or recurrent disorders.
- Should be specifically designed for the purpose, will require appropriate dose and dosage forms and necessarily supported by information, which describes: how to take or use the medicines; effects and possible side-effects; how the effects of the medicine should be monitored; possible interactions; precautions and warnings; duration of use; and when to seek professional advice.
Since, OTC drugs facilitate responsible self-medication, it will be interesting to know how the constituents of Big Pharma, such as Pfizer, view the social impact of legally recognized OTC drugs.
Social impact of self-medication with OTC drugs:
Like many other large global pharma players, Pfizer also believes: “OTC medicines provide easier access to treatment options for common conditions, offering not only convenience, but also timely treatment and relief for sudden symptoms or minor ailments.”…continue reading…
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