Access and availability of essential medicines in Chhattisgarh: Situation in public health facilities

BACKGROUND: In 2013, the Government of Chhattisgarh announced a policy guaranteeing access to free generic medicines in all the public health facilities. This study was conducted with the objectives of evaluating the prescribing patterns of physicians in public health facilities with regard to generic medicines, and whether the prescribed generic medicines were made available to patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducting from December 2013-October 2014, using exit interviews of patients. Out of the total 27 districts of the state, 15 districts were selected, and one district hospital, three community health centers, and three primary health centers were selected from each of these districts, as per logistics feasibility. Descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages were calculated. RESULTS: During the data collection period, a total of 1290 prescriptions were reviewed from 100 public health facilities. Around 68.89% of the medicines prescribed were generic and were from the 2013 generic drugs list. Around 58.28% of the prescribed generic medicines were available to the patients from these public health facilities, and the rest of the medicines were procured from private pharmacies. CONCLUSION: Chhattisgarh has made considerable progress in increasing access of generic medicines to patients in public health facilities. Our study shows that for the year 2013-14, about 58% of the prescribed medicines were available in various public health facilities. There is opportunity to further improve the state financial allocation for generic medicines, to improve supply chain and logistics for better distribution, and to mandate that physicians in these facilities prescribe generic medicines.