Finding the right medication

A centralised database will help prevent harm from dangerous drug mixes

Pharmacy area at the Cleveland Clinic on Al Maryah Island in Abu Dhabi. Pawan Singh / The National

The over-prescription of medical drugs is a global problem. Across the world, people are consuming more medication than before thanks to aggressive marketing by drug companies and benign negligence of insurance companies. With more people using medicines, the possibility for potentially dangerous drug mixing is higher than ever.

Doctors in the UAE are finding it difficult to keep track of all the medication that patients are taking and insurance companies are beginning to crack down on over-prescriptions. This is happening against the backdrop of new research that suggests cutting back on certain drugs and antibiotics has no effect on patients. Researchers at Kings College London have found that reducing the number of prescribed antibiotics does not put patients at greater risk of infection. The researchers carried out a study of four million patients and found that those who used the least amount of antibiotics after surgery didn’t have higher rates of serious illness afterwards.

The thrust of the study is that we are probably overprescribing medicines. As The National reported, this trend of over-prescription is potentially dangerous because of the risk of mixing drugs that could led to disastrous effects. Better awareness about the proper use of antibiotics will shift the popular perception that a trip to the doctor must end with the prescribing of medicine.

Additionally, a national centralised database of medical prescriptions would enable doctors and insurance companies to track exactly the drugs that have been administered to any patient. Such a database would allow for a quick elevation of any potentially dangerous mixes that a patient could inadvertently experience. There are several online tools that help patients identify potential problems and provide warnings, but so far there is no centralised database that could be accessed across the health industry.

Ultimately, we need a new conversation about the proper use of drugs so that we can break down the myth of the more medicine the better.