Drug Supply and Use: Towards a Rational Policy in India [Hardcover]

Anant Phadke (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0761992367 | ISBN-13: 978-0761992363 | Publication Date: September 22, 1998

While India has achieved near self-sufficiency in the production of a whole range of drugs, a majority of the drug formulations are irrational. As a result, the public health service suffers from a chronic shortage of drugs that has had the effect of increasingly depriving the poorer sections of better medical care. Drug Supply and Use combines the perspective of scientific drug therapy (rational therapeutics) with a pro-people perspective in critically examining India's drug policy since Indian independence. In Part I, author Anant Phadke analyzes the production of safe and effective drugs in India, the issue of the predominance of irrational drug formulations, and the role of doctors in this irrationality. The work of the rational drug policy movement that lobbies policymakers to formulate a more rational drug policy, is also discussed. Part II is based on a three-year intensive study of the supply and use of drugs in a district of Maharashtra. This pioneering survey presents a systematic study of doctors' prescriptions, the first authentic district-level estimate of drug supply in the public and private sectors, a detailed estimate of the drug supply needs of primary health centers in the entire district, and the knowledge that nurses have about the drugs they administer. Focusing on the rationality of drug production at the national level and based on an in-depth and comprehensive study of the supply and use of pharmaceuticals at the district level, this book provides critical insights that will generate considerable debate on an appropriate health policy for India. Drug Supply and Use will be of interest to professionals in the pharmaceutical industry as well as students and scholars interested in medical sociology, health economics and policy, pharmacology, and medical science.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 188 pages
• Publisher: Sage Publications Pvt. Ltd (September 22, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0761992367
• ISBN-13: 978-0761992363
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,240,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.