A survey among around 2,000 people in Karnataka has shown that discarding of medicines is a common problem, with 80% of respondents saying they have discarded unused medicines they purchased over the past three years.
The survey was conducted by community social media platform LocalCircles at the national level.
The main reason cited by respondents from Karnataka was that the minimum quantity that pharmacists sold was higher than their requirement.
Patients are often forced to buy entire packets of medicines as pharmacists want to avoid cutting strips that would lead to loss of information like manufacturing and expiry date details.
Of all respondents, 48% said they had discarded up to 10% of the medicines they bought as those were left unused and expired.
Another 16% discarded 10-50% of the medicines they purchased. Only 7% of people discarded 50-70% of the medicines purchased.
The survey report points out that unsafe disposal of medicines leads to environmental hazards, such as presence of medication compounds in water bodies and soil.
There is little awareness or sensitisation on the handling of this waste.
While 47% of respondents said they end up with excess medicines as their requirement is lower than the minimum quantity sold by the chemist, another 21% said they faced the same problem with e-pharmacies.
However, 15% said they stopped taking medicine on getting better, and another 9% said doctors prescribed more medicines than necessary.
Nearly all respondents believed the situation should change. Twenty eight per cent said chemists and e-pharmacies should sell medicines in smaller quantities and that manufacturers should take back medicines sold.
Option to return
Another 40% believed that consumers should be allowed to return medicines within a month and that manufacturers should be mandated to take these back.
About 24% said no such change was needed, but every district should have a hospital where people can donate unused medicines. The survey threw up similar results at the national level.