Masood Hussain Rao, Illahi Bukhsh M Soomro.
Attitude and practice pattern of urban population in the use of local pharmacy in treatment seeking process and it`s comparison with the semi urban population of Karachi.
Pak J Med Res Jan ;43(3):121-9.

A study to determine the attitude and practice pattern of the urban population of Karachi in the use of local pharmacy as a treatment centre and it`s comparison with the semi urban population results was conducted in 1996 in two clusters. As per similar study conducted in semi urban population of Karachi, a total of 600 families (300 in each cluster) from urban area were contacted. Only one person from each family either the head of the family or any other representative available was interviewed. Majority of the respondents (84.8%) were below 45 years of age. Majority heads of the family were belongs to the service, business or professional group with higher education (93.5% literate) and better income. (88.5% earn above Rs5000/=p.m.). All the families (100.0%) did not seek treatment from a local pharmacy in case of emergency or illness of more than 3 days duration. However 21.3 % families were getting treatment in case of sickness of less than 3 days duration.. The reasons for not seeking treatment from a qualified doctor were (a) doctors are not available 24 hours (b) It is a common practice in our society (c) Doctors knowledge is not up to the standard (d) self confidence over the knowledge of medicine (e) confidence over the knowledge of pharmacists. Majority of the respondent (87.3%) did not know whether the pharmacy from where they were taking medicines is a registered pharmacy with a qualified license holder pharmacist or not. Comparing these results with the study conducted in semi urban area, major differences of such attitude and practice pattern was due to different education and income levels. In semi urban area, only 61.9 % respondents were literate as compared to 93.5% in urban area. Income of only 25.7% families were above Rs.5000/= as compared to 88.5% in urban areas. Due to these reasons, majority of the families (63.5%) in semi urban area were seeking treatment from local pharmacy in case of sickness of less than 3 days duration as compared to urban population where only 21.3% families were doing so. The reasons for not taking treatment from a qualified doctor were also different in semi urban and urban areas.

PakMediNet -Pakistan's largest Database of Pakistani Medical Journals - http://www.pakmedinet.com