Conscious Approach to Retail Medicine Prevents Thousands of Health Hazards: A Study in Asian Context

The crippling effects of illness and disease burden lead to loss of productivity, social isolation or exclusion and a negative socio-economic spiral for the individual as well as for the collective. For getting quick relief from illness and for saving time and money people are going to pharmacies directly for purchasing medicines Over- the - Counter (OTC), bypassing the consultation of a Physician. A person usually opts for the OTC when in there is an urgency of recovering from the sickness at the earliest, or they cannot afford the cumulative cost of Doctor’s fees and price of medicines. But sometimes it is also by choice that they go to pharmacies directly to avoid usual medications prescribed conventionally by the doctors. In India over the counter medicines include painkillers, Vitamins and Nutritional supplements, cough, cold, Ayurveda medicines etc. The risk of various health hazards like drug resistance, adverse drug reaction and drug interactions increases due to unrestricted and irrational use of OTC medicine in the market. The high demand for OTC medicine is boosting the practice of Pharmacists or retail salespeople to dispense medicines without prescription even if those are listed as prescription medicine by the Drug Regulatory Authorities. As a cascading effect of this practice, self - medication is becoming a habit for consumers. Creating awareness regarding OTC drugs will help to lead better medical practices and will prevent unwanted consequences” by helping the consumers to make the learned decision.