High utilization of pharmaceutical in Iran

According to the report of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education Iran is among the top 20 countries whose people utilize the highest amount of pharmaceuticals. Iran ranks second after China among Asian countries on pharmaceutical utilization. The report also explains that 46% of the medicines used are injection drugs while this figure for the globe is only 11%.

My note: From my practice long time ago in Iran I can tell that the figures can be all true. A dominant belief among people regarding medicine is that injection drugs are much stronger than oral medications. I have seen evidence from India and Pakistan that a large fraction of population in theses countries think the same way. I hope the Family Physician Program started a few years ago is able to change the false paradigms and help regulate the outpatient healthcare.

Source: http://techdaily.ir/?p=324 , accessed on March 19, 2011