AN AWARENESS STUDY ON SAFE DISPOSAL OF UNUSED & EXPIRED MEDICINES FOR SAFEGUARDING THE ENVIRONMENT.

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Dipti B Ruikar
Dipesh kothekar
Arpit ambhore
Farhan Kazi
Arpit Gulhane
Gajanan J Deshmukh
Deepak S. Mohale

Keywords

unused medicines, expired medicines, safe disposal, environment

Abstract

Improperly disposed medicines could adversely affect the environment and increase the riskof drug misuse or accidental poisoning. This survey evaluate the disposal practices of unusedandexpiredmedicinesamongthegeneralpopulationinAmravati,India.Thiswasadescriptivecross-sectional survey conducted among 192 respondents in Amravati, India. Data werecollectedthroughinterviewsusingapre-validatedstructuredquestionnaire.Descriptivestatistics were calculated using the Microsoft Excel® 2022. Ethics approval was obtained.General public knowledge and attitude regarding unused and expired medication disposalpractice is assessed. 72% Expired medicines and 38% Unused medicines were collected.Expired medicines comprises of29% NSAID ,20% Nutraceuticals, 21%Antibiotic, 9%Antacidandremaining31%medicinescomprisedofcategoriessuchasantiseptic,expectorant,anti-diarrheal, etc.Unused medicinescomprises of23% Antacid, 20% Nutraceutical,17%NSAID,11% Antibiotic,5% Antidiabeticandremaining24%areothermedicinescollectedandsorted.Themostcommondisposalmethodofunwantedmedicineswasthrowingaway in household garbage (26%). The current study has identified the need of propereducationondisposalofpharmaceuticalsthataccumulateinhouseholdsandalsotheneedforlaws and regulations to clearly and specifically describe how unused medications should beproperly disposed of. These findings call upon the strategies to strengthen the pharmaceuticalwastemanagement program

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