The Delhi Society for Promotion of Rational Use of Drugs (DSPRUD) will soon initiate a mass awareness programme against the OTC sale of antibiotics in the National Capital Region of Delhi. The society is in the process of preparing a detailed project report to be submitted to the Department of Consumer Affairs.

Speaking to pharmabiz.com, Dr Ranjit Roy Chaudhury, president DSPRUD informed that the Department has agreed to fund the entire programme. The Delhi campaign will be carried out as a pilot programme to be adopted in other places later.

According to Dr Chaudhury, hundreds of college students, armed with sufficient literature in simple, vernacular languages would move into all parts of the city as part of the campaign. "The importance of taking the right medicine under right prescription will be highlighted," he said.

The DSPRUD had recently called for a high power meeting to try and see how sale of antibiotics over the counter could be prevented in the state of Delhi. The recommendations of the meeting included several consumer awareness programmes involving the public at large. The committee highlighted the importance of creating awareness among the chemists and druggists about the adverse consequences of self medication of antibiotics. "Chemists/ pharmacists have a very crucial role to play and their active participation is essential in preventing the sale of antibiotics without a prescription. Most of the chemists in our country are not qualified and educated to understand the implication of OTC sale of antibiotics. Therefore, it is felt that educating the chemists and druggists and creating awareness will effectively solve the problem of OTC sale of antibiotics," it has noted.

Importance of organizing workshops targeting focus groups like chemists/druggists, media, consumer organizations, school children etc have also been highlighted by DSPRUD. "Media should be educated on the harmful effects of self medication of antibiotics to the people. Non availability of drugs for treatment of several serious disorders caused by development of resistance besides adverse complications to antibiotics. These facts will enable the media to understand the magnitude of the situation and help creating news on the subject," it had pointed out.

The recent attempts of DSPRUD to disseminate the simple consumer friendly message "do not buy antibiotics without prescription" through college students/volunteers got a facelift with the Department of Consumer Affairs informed its willingness to provide sufficient funds.