Avoid self-medication – Expert

A public health expert with the Federal Medical Center, (FMC) Bida, Dr. Okeke Kingsley has advised against self medication. He said that self medication has become rampant among students of tertiary institutions, adding that in spite of several warnings by health experts and government, a lot of people still engage in it. According to him, […]

A public health expert with the Federal Medical Center, (FMC) Bida, Dr. Okeke Kingsley has advised against self medication.
He said that self medication has become rampant among students of tertiary institutions, adding that in spite of several warnings by health experts and government, a lot of people still engage in it.
According to him, self-medication must be based on genuine medical advice otherwise, irrational use of drugs can cause wastage of resources, increased resistance to disease and can also lead to serious hazards such as adverse drug reactions.
“If a drug does not reach therapeutic concentration, it will not cure the patient and in the case of anti-microbial agents, it could lead to high resistance and deadly infectious organism and disease,” he said.
He explained that students source the internet for information about self medication and try to put it to test by engaging in self treatment even without considering the negative effects it has on their health.
Responding to the question on why they engage in self medication, some students said it is because of frequent strikes in public hospitals, poor attitude of hospital staff, high cost of treatment and the non-challant attitude of some doctors who waste patients’ time in the name of being busy.
Dr Okeke advised students of tertiary institutions to make use of identity cards at designated hospitals in order to pay lesser medical charges instead of self medication.
Ibrahim, is a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger, State.