Media has to play a vital role in educating the need to adhere to
medication schedule by the users of medicine. Articles and news
appearing in regular print media usually focus on diseases or health
conditions, and very little on the appropriate use of medicines,
according to Dr Guru Prasad Mohanta, the pharma columnist and professor
of pharmacology, Annamalai University, Tamil Nadu.
While speaking
to Pharmabiz on his return from Turkey, after presenting a paper on
‘Consumer Education on Medicine Use’ at the third ‘International
Conference on Improving the Use of Medicines’ (ICIUM 2011), Dr Mohanta
said the benefit of the medicine use or therapeutic outcome depends on
the adherence of the medication schedule. More than 50 per cent of the
patients do not take the medicines as directed by the physicians. While
there could be many reasons for this non-adherence, lack of
understanding or information on medicine is perhaps one of the main
reasons. “A well informed patient is more likely to adhere to the
treatment protocol than a less informed one”, he said.
Regarding
the role of media in educating the consumers of drugs, he said public
education through media has an important role in disseminating
information about the use of medicines, their storage, adherence to
dosage schedule..etc. While there are many sources with regard to
medicines’ information, they are not easily accessible to the common
public. But information through newspaper media can influence even the
lay man. He maintained that public education about medicines was one of
the 12 core interventions suggested by WHO.
Dr Mohanta, who has
started a column, “Know Your Medicine”, in an English daily to educate
the general public about medicine use, is of opinion that consumer
education on medicine is a part of medical treatment. “My articles are
intended to educate the consumers about the usage and management of
drugs. Spreading medicine information is to empower and help the users
of drugs to be part of their medical treatment. Safe and effective use
of medicine is the motto of every drug therapy decision,” he said.
Further
he said the health columns in the news papers should provide
information on the preservation and effective use of medicines to the
consumers. The safety and effectiveness of medicines very often depend
on how they are stored or kept at home. Storing appropriately can
prevent medicine mishap and preserve their quality. The life of
medicines as mentioned as expiry date depends on storage conditions. If
not stored properly, the medicines may expire well before the expiry
date.
According to him heat and moisture have damaging effect on
the quality of medicines. They need to be protected from high
temperature and humidity. Certain drugs require storage in controlled
temperature like keeping in a refrigerator. Some medicines are affected
by UV light. Sunlight should never be allowed to fall on these
medicines. This information on medicines can be passed on to the people
through media. So, all the media, especially news papers, should focus
on medicine information while publishing articles on health, Dr Mohanta
opined.
