1. General
Drug names: the relevant International Non-proprietary Name (INN) or generic name are used throughout the list. According to the National Drug Policy and Authority Statute 1993 sec 12 generic names shall be used for prescribing and labelling (ie. including dispensing) of drugs, except where no such generic or suitable alternative non-proprietary name exists.
Order of sections: drugs are arranged in alphabetical order by pharmacological / therapeutic groups following the same basic arrangement as the WHO Model List of Essential Drugs with the addition of two additional sections: 28: Ear, Nose and Oropharyngeal Preparations and 29: Drugs for Neurosurgical Use.
2. Level of Use
For each item the lowest level of health care facility at which the item may be used is indicated as shown in the table below. This designation is in line with the diagnostic and clinical skills expected to be available at that level. In certain cases the use of an item is further restricted to facilities where a specific type of clinical and/or diagnostic expertise is available, eg. certain ophthalmological preparations. The in-charge of each level of Health Centre is given in parentheses.
HC1 |
= Health Centre 1 (Community Level) |
HC2 |
= Health Centre 2 (Enrolled Comprehensive Nurse) |
HC3 |
= Health Centre 3 (Clinical Officer) |
HC4 |
= Health Centre 4 (Medical Officer) |
H |
= Hospital |
R |
= Restricted Use (ie. needs high level diagnostic/clinical skills only available in specialised institutions, eg. Cancer Institute, National Psychiatric Hospital, etc.) |
Ref |
= Referral Hospital |
Notes:
1. Diagnostic facilities: Health facilities of levels HC3 and higher have different degrees of laboratory diagnostic support facilities available.
2. Drug availability: all of the items listed for health centre levels up to and including H (Hospital) level are expected to be available at all times from National Medical Stores. More specialised items with an R (Restricted) or Ref (Referral) designation will be available from NMS only at the request of the relevant institution. It is therefore important that accurate estimates for the annual requirements for these items are made by the institutions concerned well in advance and the information forwarded to NMS so that sufficient quantities of the required items may be procured and held in stock.
