DOHA: Primary health centres in Qatar have started setting up special rooms in their premises to answer patients’ queries and clarify doubts related to medical prescriptions , an official has disclosed.
These rooms apparently have trained staff to explain to patients the use of medicines. The pharmacy staff may not have enough time for this since they will be busy dispensing medicines.
This is the latest and most important initiative of the Primary Healthcare Corporation (PHCC) with regard to raising public awareness about medicines, Dr Mahmoud Ali Al Mahmoud, head of medicine purchasing and import section at PHCC told local Arabic daily Al Arab.
He said the service will soon be expanded to all newly opened health centres.
He said the electronic prescriptions introduced by several health centres of late have helped reduce the pressure on pharmacies and minimise errors by pharmacists in reading hand-written prescriptions.
Health centres are now introducing an online system in pharmacies, which enables them to access the prescriptions online. In health centres where this service is not yet available, patients are required to carry the prescriptions with them, explained Al Mahmoud. PHCC recently launched a campaign to rationalise the use of medicines. He said this is an international initiative which has already been implemented in countries like the US and France. Studies show that about 25 per cent of patients worldwide do not use the medicines properly and about 80 per cent of patients are not using antibiotics in the proper way.
“It is important to raise awareness about waste of medicines to reduce financial losses and protect people’s health,” said Al Mahmoud.
Last year, more than 2 million people visited pharmacies at 22 health centres across the country. Waiting time at PHCC pharmacies has now been reduced to 15 to 20 minutes, he added.
Each health centre has a pharmacy. By 2019, there will be 35 pharmacies at 35 health centres. There are about 300 pharmacists and assistants working at these facilities. In 2014, more than 700 types of medicines were available at the PHCC pharmacies.
He said there was no shortage of medicines in these pharmacies. However, there could be temporary shortage of some medicines for which alternatives are available. Some patients are not willing to take the alternatives because they think they are different from what their doctor has prescribed, said Al Mahmoud. THE PENINSULA
