Pattern of prescribing practices in the Madhya Pradesh, India.

OBJECTIVES To find out the current status of the 'prescribing practices' in the Primary Health Care facilities of Madhya Pradesh. MATERIAL AND METHODS The cross-sectional survey was conducted in 26 Primary Health Care facilities of the Madhya Pradesh. Consecutive random sampling method was applied for collection of prescriptions from the health facilities. OBSERVATION Overall the average number of drugs prescribed per prescription was 2.8; most commonly prescribed drugs were NSAIDs, antibiotics, multivitamins and antihistaminics. Drugs prescribed by generic name were 48.5% (1409/2906), prescription with antibiotics and injections were 60.9% (641/1052) and 13.6% (143/1052) respectively. Drugs prescribed from Essential Drug List were 66.9% (1944/2906). CONCLUSION The prescribing practices of the Madhya Pradesh is more of an irrational types like polypharmacy, overuse of antibiotics and injection, less number in generic names and prescribed from Essential Drug List. There is an urgent need for some interventions to improve the situation.