The effects of free drugs on utilization of health services in a rural community in North-western Nigerian

Abstract

Background: Lack of essential drugs is a major problem facing Primary Health Care (PHC) facilities in Nigeria. In an attempt to respond to this problem, the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) office in Abuja, Nigeria, distributed Essential Drugs and supplies to some PHC centers for free distribution to patients.
Aim: This study aims to assess the effects of free drugs on utilization of health services and the types of drugs that were most dispensed during the free treatment exercise at Yakawada Comprehensive Health Centre (YCHC), Kaduna, Nigeria.
Methods: A retrospective descriptive study conducted at YCHC. Free drugs were donated to the centre by MDG Office in Abuja. These were freely distributed to patients over a three month period, May to July 2010. Patient health records for the three months were obtained and compared with those obtained during the same period of the previous year of 2009.
Results: A 59.8% increased utilization of the health centre during the three months period was recorded against the previous year. antimalarials, analgesics, antihelminthics and haematinics were the most dispensed drugs. Demands for some of the supplied essential drugs and supplies were very low due to low prevalence of the diseases or conditions they were meant for.
Conclusion: Provision of free medications increased utilization of the centre‟s health services during which some categories of drugs were most dispensed. It is recommended that the most dispensed drugs in each L.G.A should be included among a „free drug list‟ for the respective L.G.A.

Key words: Free drugs, provision, utilization, health services, rural, Nigeria