The Drug Administration and Control Authority of Ethiopia recognizing the urgent need for information, appropriate to the different categories of health personnel, particularly to those working in the periphery, has developed this formulary for District hospitals.
The draft of this formulary was first prepared by the planning, Drug information establishment and distribution department of the Authority. The draft was then sent to different departments of the Authority for comments, and some modifications were made based on the comments and suggestions received. It was then finalized through an organized workshop in october 2003, that participated distingushed professionals in the field of pharmacy and medicine.
The Formulary aims to provide doctors, pharmacists and other healthcare professionals working at or below district hospital level with sound up to date information about the use of medicines. And hence the central goals of the formulary are to help prescribers in the appropriate choice of treatment and to make prescribers follow uniform choice of treatment.
The drug formulary is an extended version of drug list, which offers information on the drugs. This formulary is prepared based on the lists of drugs developed by Drug Administration and Control Authority for District hospitals.
Drugs that are generally prescribed at district hospital level are included and hence the formulary provides ready access to key information on the selection, prescribing, dispensing and administration of medicines available at District Hospital level and below it.
The Drugs formulary is designed on Pharmacologic-Therapeutic Classification of Drugs so as to help in relating the pharmacological action of specific drugs. The formulary contains general notes for each pharmacologic class of drugs and specific information for each drugs including indication, caution, drug interaction, side effect, contraindication, dose and administration and information on storage condition. The formulary also contains general notes in prescribing practices, and supplementary information under appendixes. About Four Hundred drugs with their 630 dosage forms are included in this formulary.
The formulary is designed as a digest for rapid reference and it may not always include all the information necessary for prescribing and dispensing. And by no means it does substitute manuals for treatment guideline.
We hope, that this formulary will be of assistance in providing useful information to the health workers and in promoting the rational use of drugs, and will also contribute to attaining the betterment of the quality of the health service. It is also hoped that this formulary will be of particular use to those health professionals working at the periphery who have no access to adequate and up to date information.
Despite all efforts it is unavoidable that this first edition of the Drugs Formulary for District Hospital (DFDH) may contain some omissions or errors. All readers are encouraged to send their comments, corrections and suggestions to the Editor of the DFDH; Department of planning, Drug information establishment and distribution; Drug Administration and control Authority; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, fax 251 - 1 - 521395, P.O.Box 5681, E-mail-daca@telecon.net.et
