Demand of COVID-19 medicines without prescription among community pharmacies in Jodhpur, India: findings and implications

Abstract

Background: COVID-19 pandemic led to increased self-medication of antimicrobials, vitamins, and immune boosters among the common people and consuming without prescription can lead to adverse consequences including antimicrobial resistance.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on community pharmacies in Jodhpur, India. They were inquired regarding the prescription and increased sales (<25%, 25-50%, 50-75%, or 75-100%) of various medicines (Hydroxychloroquine, Azithromycin, Ivermectin, and Vitamin C) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Logistic regression analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between requests for certain COVID-19 medications and an increase in their sale.

Results: A total of 204 pharmacies took part, and 88.23% reported patients to approach without prescriptions. Most of the pharmacies revealed that <25% of patients came without prescription. The majority came for azithromycin (68%) and vitamin C (92%). Increased sales of the four targeted medications were seen by 85.92% of pharmacies compared to last year. A majority (51.5%) reported <25% increased sales of azithromycin, but no change in the sale of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. However, 39.6% reported >75% increase in vitamin C sales.

Conclusion: There was an increase in the demand for COVID-19 medications without prescription. This study was unable to detect a significant increase in sales of antimicrobials, which is encouraging.

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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

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Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_1250_21

Repository URI

https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/78196/