Masood Hussain Rao, Illahi Bukhsh, Soomro M.
Use of local pharmacy in treatment seeking process by semi urban population of Karachi.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;42(2):64-8.

A study to determine the use of local pharmacy in treatment seeking process by semi urban population in Karachi was conducted from 1995 to 1996 in two clusters. A total of 600 families (300 in each cluster) were contacted and one person from each family, either the head or any other member available was interviewed. The sex ratio of respondents was 1:0.6. Majority of the respondents (76.5%) were below 45 years of age. The occupation of majority head of the family (80.8%) was service, business or they were skill workers with less education (38.8% illiterate) and low income (74.3% earned below Rs. 5000). Most of the people (96.5%) did not get treatment from a local pharmacy in case of emergency. It is reverse in case of sickness of less than 3 days duration where 63.0% people sought treatment from local pharmacy. However, in case of sickness of more than 3 days duration, majority (98.5%) gets treatment from a qualified doctor. The main reasons for not taking treatment from a qualified doctor were (a) self-confidence on drug knowledge, (b) did not think it a serious disease (c) have no money for doctor’s fee (d) doctor is not available for 24 hours and (e) lack of interest of doctors to control over the diseases in proper way. Majority of the respondents 41.2% did not know whether the pharmacy from which they are getting treatment is a registered pharmacy or not. Similarly majority of the respondents (74.2%) also did not know whether the pharmacists dispensing medicine to them is a license holder or not.

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