Short Communication
Year: 2014 | Month: February | Volume: 4 | Issue: 2 | Pages: 161-164
Irrational Use of Herbal Drugs: Problem Statement and Ways Ahead
Janmejaya Samal
Former District Epidemiologist, Gadchiroli, Maharashtra, Presently MPH Scholar, Padmashree School of Public Health (under RGUHS), Nagarbhavi Circle, Nagarbhavi, Bangalore, India.
ABSTRACT
Rational use of drugs refers to the use of right medicine, in right dosage, for right ailment for a right period of time and at right price. Any deviation from these could be called irrational use of drugs. Irrational use of drugs is an important problem worldwide. Deviation from above statement is not uncommon in any part of the globe. WHO estimates that more than half of all medicines are prescribed, dispensed or sold inappropriately, and that half of all patients fail to take them correctly. This is a more serious problem in the field of traditional herbal medicine owing several reasons. The situation is more worsened by the quacks as most of them are not properly trained in herbal medicine and simply continue their legacy. This is sometimes complicated by some other factors such as lack of proper governmental patronization, research and development, standardization and quality control etc. In this paper an attempt has been made to assess the problem statement of irrational use of herbal drugs and ways ahead to address the same in an Indian perspective.
Key words: Herbal drugs, Irrational use, Problem statement, Ways ahead