Many people come into the pharmacy with an empty box of their medication wanting a refill. If the pharmacy has the medication a patient is buying but it is from a different manufacturer, some of them refuse to buy it. Even when patients are counseled that it is the same medication, they will still not buy it. Elderly people usually send someone to buy their medications and they do not understand the concept of "same medication, different manufacturers." They know the medications that work for them, so if someone comes with a medication that looks "different," they believe that it will not work the same.
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| Same medication; different manufacturers |
It saddens me when people cannot afford their medications because it is something that I have no control over. A lady came into the pharmacy looking for a cough mixture for her son. When we told her the price, she expressed how she did not have enough money to pay for it and left the pharmacy.
I made two interventions today! These past two days have made it apparent to me that people in Ghana abuse antibiotics. Yesterday a woman came into the pharmacy complaining of back pain and asking for erythromycin. Today a man and a woman came into the pharmacy complaining of a cough and asked for amoxicillin. Neither of them had tried anything for their cough, but someone had recommended it to them so they came in to buy it. One of the technicians was getting ready to sell the amoxicillin to the woman when I told him that it was not an appropriate medication because the woman did not have an infection. He argued with me about it for a bit, then sold the women cough syrup and some cough drops. This interaction really helped me realize the importance of a pharmacist. It is our responsibility to counsel patients on the appropriate use of medications so that they are used correctly.
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