By Gatonye Gathura
Many patients are being prescribed excessive medicines as hospitals offload near-expiry stocks.
A recent survey among 21,913 patients in Nairobi recorded huge over-prescriptions especially of antibiotics – well over and above recommended levels. One of the reasons for the over-prescription, the report says was for health facilities to offload near-expiry medicines and improve on revenues.
“When it comes to private clinics, you also have other goals . . . you have target revenues,” said a medical doctor.
Researchers analysed mobile phone data in the donor supported M-TIBA programme where majority of hospital visits were due to respiratory tract infections.
These infections included common cold, bronchitis, tonsillitis and other conditions some not normally recommended for antibiotics.
High degrees
However, the study published recently in the journal Plos One shows antibiotics prescriptions rates for respiratory infections going up to 99.8 per cent.
“These high degrees of prescription surpass levels recommended by national and international standard treatment guidelines,” says the study by Dutch researchers and the Gertrude’s Children’s Hospital, Nairobi.
The eight-month study, analysed 36,210 visits at four clinics in Nairobi involving 21,913 patients with 85,484 prescriptions. It indicates only a few of the treatments were supported by comprehensive laboratory tests.
Official treatment guidelines recommend no antibiotics for infections such as common cold and bronchitis, a major cause of hospital visits in Kenya. In this study, the antibiotic amoxicillin constituted nearly one-third 7,061 or 32.3 per cent of total antibiotic drug prescriptions.
