The tragedy related to the death of children in Uzbekistan due to taking the Doc-1 Max drug clearly showed the problems in the healthcare and pharmaceutical sector of Uzbekistan. The “Yuksalish” nationwide movement stated that such situations can be prevented in the future only by combining the efforts of all parties and made several proposals in this regard.
First, we believe that the practice of unsupervised use of drugs needs to be completely revised. Because we often consult pharmacists, not doctors, about which medicine to take. Many medicines can be easily bought from a pharmacy without a doctor’s prescription, and this creates the risk of misuse of medicines.
Studies conducted in different countries show that an average of 10-20% of hospitalized patients experience adverse drug reactions, and interestingly, this rate is twice as high in developing countries.
In 2008-2018, 2,300 cases of health deterioration as a result of self-medication with drugs were registered in Uzbekistan.
Therefore, we believe that, first of all, it is necessary to introduce restrictions on the direct advertising of drugs in the mass media. In particular, advertising of medicinal products should be carried out only with the permission of the Committee for Developing Competition and Protection of Consumer Rights. In the future, it is necessary to consider the possibility of banning direct advertising of drugs in the mass media. For this purpose, it is necessary to study the experience of countries such as Turkey, Switzerland, and Canada.
According to the WHO, the increase in uncontrolled use of drugs and self-medication is due to advertising. Deaths from such treatment rank 5th after injuries, circulatory diseases, oncological and pulmonological diseases. Of course, consumers cannot assess the risk of side effects caused by the use of drugs, their compatibility and the individual reaction of the body.
In fact, we treat medicines as ordinary consumer goods, and this makes the situation even worse. Therefore, this issue is relevant for Uzbekistan, where on average there are 25-27 pharmacies per 100,000 inhabitants.
Secondly, we propose to strengthen the liability for violations of the legislation on advertising of medicinal products. Last year, the Law “On Advertising” was adopted. Although it sets clear rules for drug advertising, every day we see violations of the law on television, radio and other types of advertising. We see that pharmaceutical companies approach the requirements of the law recklessly.
