2. TITLE
Availability of essential drugs at Basic Health
Units (BHUs) of Larkana District.
 Dr. Ufaque Batool Korai (final year MBBS student of CMC).
 Prof. Dr. Khurshid Ahmed Abbasi (Head of Paediatrics
Department Unit 2 and Visiting professor of Community
Medicine, CMC).
 Dr. Shiraz Shaikh (Faculty of Community Health Sciences
AKU).
By

3. “BACKGROUND”
It is common perception of public that essential
drugs are either not available or not being provided
at Basic Health Units. Therefore we designed this
study to look at the availability of essential drugs in
Basic Health Units of Larkana.

4. “OBJECTIVE”
To look for the availability of
essential drugs at BHUs of Larkana
district.

5. “METHODS AND SETTING”
Study design: This was a cross sectional
study.
Study setting: The study was carried out
for 1 month (1st January 2011 to 31st
January 2011) at 22 BHUs of Larkana
district.

6. Methods & setting continues…..
• Sample was calculated by WHO sampling formula.
Universal sampling type was used as we had taken all
the BHUs of Larkana district under inclusion criteria.
Pre-tested questionnaire was used.
• Total of 22 BHUs were covered in Larkana district.

7. Methods & setting continues…..
• They were visited during morning
hours and physical presence/
availability of all essential drugs
was personally made.

8. PROFORMA
Essential drugs Code Answer
1. Vitamin A supplement 1.Yes 2.No
2. Iron and folic acid supplement 1.Yes 2.No
3. O.R.S packets 1.Yes 2.No
4. Chloroquine tab 1.Yes 2.No
5. Paracetamol tab 1.Yes 2.No
6. Mebendazole tab 1.Yes 2.No
7. Chloropheniamine tab 1.Yes 2.No
8. Ear drops 1.Yes 2.No
9. Eye drops 1.Yes 2.No
10. Benzyl benzoate emulsion 1.Yes 2.No
11. Amoxycilin cap/syp 1.Yes 2.No
12. Metronidazole (flagyl) tab/syp 1.Yes 2.No
13. Anti-hypertensive drugs 1.Yes 2.No

10. 41%
59%
Anti Malarial Drugs
Not Available
Available

11. 51%49%
Anti Pyretic Drugs
Not Available
Available

12. 16%
84%
ORS Packets
Not Available
Available

13. Vitamin A supplementation and Eye drops.
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
Vitamin A
Eye Drops
78%
13%
22%
87%
Non Available
Available

14. Oral hypoglycemic drugs were available in
(100%) of the BHUs centre.
 None of the BHUs had the ear drops.

15. “Conclusion”
After takeover of BHUs by PPHI, still not all
essential drugs are available at every BHU in
Larkana district.
Particularly Vitamin A, ORS, Eye & Ear drops are
not available in all centers.

16. “Recommendation”
Hence they should be made available
at every BHU, so that these essential
drugs can be provided to patients
requiring them.