A Qualitative Study On Drug Waste Management Among Drug Distributors, Kochi

ABSTRACTDrug waste management has become a serious subject. Excessive use and irrational sale of medicines have led to unlimited contributions of pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare providers to the ground of waste production. The community pharmacies return the unused and expired drugs to the distributors who sent back these to the manufacturers. This study was initiated with an aim of identifying knowledge and behaviour of the distributers in the area of proper drug waste management. A questionnaire survey and key informant interview were used for the study. The study comprised of drug distributors from various areas of Ernakulum district. The survey conducted through face-to-face interviews using pre-validated structured questionnaire. The participants were asked about their practice, knowledge and difficulties facing on area of safe waste drug disposal. The filled questionnaire forms collected were sorted and examined for accuracy. 30 drug distributors were participated in the study and were asked to answer the questionnaire based on the drug waste management practices in their firm. Majority of them were not aware about the drug waste management and don’t know any guidelines for the same. Drug waste return to them was mainly expired dosage form from retail pharmacies and also from hospital pharmacies. Most of distributors had return of drug waste in the range of 10-50 kilograms per month. The key to solve the issue of pharmaceutical waste disposal can be done in collaborative effort and co-operation between government and all the parties those who are dealing with medicines including public. Established and applied laws, along with community awareness will surely make our goal simply workable. Keywords: Drug Waste, Distributors, Knowledge, Disposal Methods