Health Dept drive on self-medication risks on the anvil
Mukesh Tandon
Panipat, June 3
The Health Department is planning to launch a comprehensive awareness campaign in the district to educate people against the ill effects, risks and consequences of self-medication.
The Health Department has directed all the programme officers, medical officers and in-charges at the Community Health Centres (CHCs) and Primary Health Centres (PHCs), urban primary health centres (UPHC) and urban health centres (UHCs), health sub-centres to launch a massive campaign in this regard.
Dr Lalit Verma, District TB Officer, said this awareness programme is being launched on the directions of the Union Health Ministry.
In a letter from the Ministry, specific points have been mentioned, including misdiagnosing the conditions and administering inappropriate medicines which delayed proper treatment, improper use of medicines without the knowledge of action, indication and dose which may lead to serious drug reactions, Verma added.
Apart from people taking mixed medicines, which may result in harmful drug interactions in the body, improper use of antibiotics for self-medication not only contributes to the antibiotic resistance, but also makes the patient prone to infection with resistant organisms. Scores of medicines especially sedatives and opioids may lead to risk of addiction, he added.
