Quality of medication services for morbidities in a rural health center in Puducherry, India

BACKGROUND: Client satisfaction on quality of medication services perceived by the patients is an important measure of the health services and needs to be addressed to improve the utilization of primary health-care services. METHODS: This is a descriptive study on quality of medication services perceived by the patients attending a rural health center in Puducherry. The data were collected with pretested semi-structured questionnaire. The study population consisted of 365 patients. RESULTS: The mean age of the study population was 44.73 years and 61.6% were females. Majority of the participants (340, 93.2%) had visited the clinic at least six times in the last 6 months. The main presenting conditions included hypertension (22.7%), pregnancy (11.8%), bronchial asthma (9%), diabetes (12%), skin infections (7%), myalgia (7%), and other ailments. Average waiting time to collect drugs was 11 min (ranging from 3 to 30 min). Around half of them were advised to consume medications regularly and on time as per prescriptions (n = 199, 54.5%). Around one-fourth of the participants were advised regarding the timing of medication with respect to food (n = 96, 26.3%). Overall satisfaction was moderate in 73% participants and extremely satisfied in 25%. Around 86% of the participants told that their doubts regarding medication use were clarified by the pharmacist at the counters while 5% felt that it was not addressed. Around two-thirds were highly satisfied with the quality of drugs received (65%) and availability of drugs (64.4%). Around 52% were highly satisfied with the behavior of the pharmacy staff and 55% were moderately satisfied with timing of the pharmacy facility. Around 60% of the participants were moderately satisfied with the discipline in the queue system. CONCLUSIONS: The quality of medication services perceived by the participants is high in comparison with other studies. However, a few areas of dissatisfaction have been noted. There is a need to improve the services at the rural health centers with more satisfaction of patients availing such public health facilities.