Drug prescribing indicators in primary health care centers in Bahrain.

Objective: To estimate drug use indicators in primary health care centers in the Ministry of Health, Bahrain.

Methods: Four out of 20 primary health care centers in Bahrain were selected and prescriptions of one day (July 30, 2003), were collected, reviewed and analyzed.

Results: The study showed that the average number of drugs per encounter was 2.6, while the percentage of prescriptions containing injections were 8.3%, and antibiotics were 26.2%. The percentage of drugs prescribed by generic name was 14.3%, and those from the National Drug List were 99.8%.

Conclusion: Parameters, such as average number of drugs prescribed, are in line with many countries. However, injection prescribing was higher than European countries, but low in comparison with many countries in Asia and Africa. Antibiotic prescribing was close to European countries, and lower when compared to some Asian and African countries. We need an intervention program to promote the use of generic names, as it is quite low.