Compliance of Private Primary Health Care Facilities Towards Requirements of Labelling of Dispensed Medicine in Sarawak

BACKGROUND: Compliance towards the requirements of labelling of dispensed medicine (LDM) among private primary health care facilities ensures appropriate use of medicines.

AIM: This study aimed to examine the rate of compliance towards the requirements of LDM among retail pharmacies (RPs) and private medical clinics (PMCs).

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from April 2019 to January 2020 across all inspected premises in Sarawak. Publics who attended RPs and PMCs and having medicines dispensed, have their medicine labels examined for compliance towards the requirements of LDM upon exiting the premises. Their verbal consents were obtained and the compliance score were recorded into self-developed data collection forms. Compliance rate was the percentage of requirements on the examined medicine labels that fulfil the requirements under Regulation 12 of Poisons Regulations 1952.

RESULTS: A total of 414 LDM were examined, with 135 from RPs and 279 from PMCs. The full compliance towards the requirements of LDM among RPs and PMCs were 23.7% and 41.6%, respectively. The median compliance score of PMCs (0.83) was significantly higher (P<0.001) than RPs (0.67). The requirements of LDM with the lowest compliance was name of medicine (53.1%), followed by name of patient (31.9%) and date of dispensing (25.6%).

CONCLUSION: The full compliance rate on the requirements of LDM among RPs and PMCs were low. More stringent enforcement and public education on their rights for fully compliant medicine labels could improve the compliance.