Analysis of Essential Medicines Used for Emergency Care in Pakistan

Abstract

Introduction: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), essential medicines (EM) have the ability to meet the health care needs of maximum individuals. High accessibility to essential medicines (EM) was proposed under the Millennium Development Goal. The access to high quality, suitable, and inexpensive essential medicines is an essential constituent of health care systems. Methodology: This retrospective cross-sectional observational study was performed at Jinnah Hospital Lahore from February 2018 to November 2018, for analysis of essential medicine usage in a public sector tertiary care hospital of Pakistan. The data were collected from records of patients admitted in the emergency department. Results: Drugs prescribed per encounter were estimated to be 3. Most patients got a single antibiotic, and cephalosporin was the most commonly prescribed antibiotic. Conclusion: The concept of essential drugs has gained high acceptance, but the EMs should be prescribed logically, appropriately and should be in line with WHO guidelines. Keywords: Essential Medicines, Emergency Health care, World Health organization