Journal of Pharmacovigilance

Abstract

Knowledge and Awareness Regarding Safe Drug Disposal System among General Population of India

Shwetha N and Ateendra Jha

Thousands of drugs are releasing into the market day by day in order to treat various diseases and to promote the health of growing population of India. But when they no longer needed their disposal become necessary because drug is a chemical and once it expires it will become a toxic agent. The people may have expired drugs, unused or unwanted medicines which may occur as a result of non-adherence, excessive storage of OTC medication or disuse of drugs. The USFDA initiated ‘drug take back programme’ to prevent the entry of these medication into environment. But in India drug take back programmer is not functional. The country is now facing the numerous problems due to improper drug disposal methods such as burning, flushing into toilet and throwing somewhere or into waste-basket which may lead to environmental contamination and pollution, contamination of water supplies and other local sources used by community and wildlife which will results in serious environmental and health hazards like toxicity, accidental poisoning and drug abuse, development of drug resistance problems and even death. Since the drug take back programme is not functional in the developing countries like India several cases of toxicity and accidental exposure are seen day by day. So an online survey was conducted in general population in order to check the knowledge of people regarding safe drug disposal system. From the data, 73% of 214 people are not aware of safe and effective disposal of drugs without causing any harmful effect to nature and public.