PERSPECTIVE OF THE DOCTORS IN A NEW MEDICAL COLLEGE OF NORTH-EAST INDIA REGARDING THE NATIONAL LIST OF ESSENTIAL MEDICINES
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22159/ajpcr.2024.v17i3.49284Keywords:
Essential, medicines, NLEM, healthcare, questionnaire.Abstract
Objectives: To collate the perspectives of doctors regarding the national list of essential medicines (NLEM) and thus assess the factors affecting adaptation and implementation of NLEM at the state or institution level.
Methods: This is a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study conducted among the doctors of Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences, which is a new medical college and a tertiary care hospital in Naharlagun, Arunachal Pradesh. The study was carried out for 6 months. The participants were explained the purpose of the study and requested to fill out the questionnaire and return it immediately. Data analysis was performed using simple statistical methods such as percentages and proportions.
Results: Out of 73 participants, 63% were aware of NLEM, while 37% were unaware of the term NLEM. Only 17.8% of the doctors are satisfied that the drugs in the latest NLEM suffice for most of the medical conditions they come across in their daily practices. Only about 39.7% of the doctors frequently prescribed the drugs from the NLEM list in their routine practice. The majority (61.6%) of them agree that there should be a separate essential drug list supplementary to the World Health Organization list in every tertiary care medical college.
Conclusion: The concept of NLEM offers the most cost-effective solution to healthcare needs. The selection of the medicines in the list or a separate state or institutional list according to the needs of the regional population can cater to most of the healthcare needs.
Downloads
References
Masiga J. Essential drugs concept: Is it still relevant in our situation today? Meds Update 2010;17:2-8.
Medhi B, Prakash A. Advanced Pharmacology. 1st ed. Hyderabad: Pharma Med Press; 2014. p. 3-9.
WHO. WHO Model List of Essential Medicines 18th List. Switzerland: WHO; 2013.
Tripathi KD. Essentials of Medical Pharmacology. 7th ed. Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers Ltd.; 2013. p. 957.
Bigdeli M, Peters DH, Wagner AK. Medicines in health Systems: Advancingaccess, Affordability and Appropriate Use. Switzerland: World Health Organization; 2014. p. 9241507624.
Robertson JM, Barr R, Forte G, Ondari C. Medicines for cancers in children: The WHO model for selection of essential medicines. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2015;62:1689-93. doi: 10.1002/pbc.25564 PMID: 25929524
Tang B, Bodkyn C, Gupta S, Denburg A. Access to WHO essential medicines for childhood cancer care in Trinidad and Tobago: A health system analysis of barriers and enablers. JCO Glob Oncol 2020;6:67- 79. doi: 10.1200/JGO.19.00300 PMID: 32031441
Parmar A, Pal A, Sharma P. National list of essential medicines in India: A story of deprivation of substance use disorder treatment. Indian J Psychol Med 2021;43:531-4. doi: 10.1177/0253717620972942 PMID: 35210682
Perumal-Pillay VA, Suleman F. Selection of essential medicines for South Africa-an analysis of in-depth interviews with national essential medicines list committee members. BMC Health Serv Res 2017;17:17. doi: 10.1186/s12913-016-1946-9 PMID: 28061899
Bandameedi R, Mohammed S. A case study on national list of essential medicines (NLEM) in India and WHO EML 2015-overview. Pharmaceut Reg Affairs 2016;5:159. doi: 10.4172/2167-7689.1000159
Peacocke EF, Myhre SL, Foss HS, Gopinathan U. National adaptation and implementation of WHO Model list of essential medicines: A qualitative evidence synthesis. PLoS Med 2022;19:e1003944. doi: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1003944
Sarangi SC, Kaur N, Tripathi M, Gupta YK. Cost analysis study of neuropsychiatric drugs: Role of national list of essential medicines, India. Neurol India 2018;66:1427-33. PMID: 30233018
Report of the Core-Committee for Revision of National LIST of Essential Medicines; 2015. Available from: https://main.mohfw.gov.in/sites/default/files/recommendations.pdf
Chigome AK, Matlala M, Godman B, Meyer JC. Availability and use of therapeutic interchange policies in managingantimicrobial shortages among South African public sector hospitals; findings and implications. Antibiotics (Basel) 2019;9:4. PMCID: PMC7168338, PMID: 31861923
Manikandan S. The national list of essential medicines of India 2022 (NLEM 2022): Tommy, Toe the line. Lancet Reg Health Southeast Asia 2023;13:100202.
Surendra KV, Roopa PN, Gupta SK, Sandeep G, Rahul DH. Comparison of the knowledge, attitude and practices of essential medicines among medical practitioners of a medical college versus private medical general practitioners of an urban place of South India. Int J Med Res Health Sci 2015;4:305-10.
Malhotra N, Shivaswamy MS. Knowledge, attitude, and practices of rational use of medicines among the postgraduate residents of a tertiary care teaching hospital in North Karnataka a facilitybased crosssectional study. Indian J Health Sci Biomed Res 2023;16:71-8.
Meena DK, Jayanthi M. Essential medicines research in India: Situation analysis. J Young Pharm 2021;13:82-6.
Maiti R, Bhatia V, Padhy BM, Hota D. Essential medicines: An Indian perspective. Indian J Community Med 2015;40:223-32.
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
Copyright (c) 2023 Pallavi Boro, Binita Singha, Swapan Majumder, Nabajyoti Saikia , Ajoy Borah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
The publication is licensed under CC By and is open access. Copyright is with author and allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions.
