Essential medicines satisfy the priority healthcare needs of the population. In the past decades, little progress has been made to improve the availability essential medicines that remain unaffordable and unavailable to many poor patients, who cannot even afford their daily needs. Non-availability and excessive medicine pricing are two significant barriers to accessing medicines. Furthermore, essential LPG medicines are economical when used solely for medication therapy.Īccess to medicines has helped enhance patient health outcomes and lower mortality rates. Treatment with LPG medications seems affordable. It was surprising to see that Balochistan’s public sector has only 24.3% of the National Essential Medicine List when the medicines on this list are supposed to be adequately available.Ĭonclusion: The standard treatment cost with OBs is steep, exceeding the minimum daily wage. The OBs and LPGs’ mean availability in the private sector were fairly high, 51.8% and 42.6%, respectively. Results: The mean availability was low for OBs (9.8%) and fairly high (49.4%) for LPGs. The daily wage of the lowest paid unskilled government employee was used to determine affordability. The medicine costs were compared to international reference prices (IRPs) to calculate the median price ratio. Methods: Cross-sectional research was conducted in several cities of Balochistan, Pakistan, using the World Health Organization/Health Action International methodology to assess the availability and cost of 50 originator brand (OB) and lowest priced generic (LPG) drugs. Objectives: The study aimed to evaluate the availability, prices, and affordability of selected essential medicines in Balochistan, Pakistan. 2Balochistan Institute of Nephrology Urology Quetta BINUQ, Quetta, Pakistan.1Department of Pharmacy Practice, University of Balochistan, Quetta, Pakistan.
Murad Bibi 1*, Noman Ul Haq 1, Abdul Kareem 2, Habib Ullah 2, Nizam Baloch 1, Gulalai Rehman 2 and Aqeel Nasim 2
0 kommentar(er)
