Painkiller prescription is the second most common prescription placed by practicing doctors in our country.
The element of worry ???
The painkillers purchased and consumed OTC 75X more than what’s prescribed.
Now, we know no patient follows a prescription to the dot. They either don’t do or over-do.
Currently, there are 78 lakh citizens being treated for opioid abuse in our country.
This statistic was 63 lakh in December 2024.
Again, this is not the number of people consuming, this is the number of people being treated after years of opioid abuse in our country.
How are doctors directly/indirectly subjected to blame?
In my opinion, most doctors prescribe painkillers only when medically necessary. However, many patients assume that any kind of pain can be treated with these drugs and begin consuming them for even minor discomfort. This self-medication habit especially with over-the-counter access contributes significantly to the rise in opioid abuse in our country. Even when prescriptions are followed, patients often misuse or overuse the medication, which worsens the problem.
I think that The main issue starts when painkillers are used without proper knowledge. People often don’t follow the exact dose or continue using them even when it’s not needed. And since they’re easily available OTC, it leads to overuse and later, addiction. That’s why awareness, correct usage, and proper guidance are so important to prevent long term harm.
Doctors only prescribe painkillers or any medications only when required but it is the problem of the public that they continue to use it even after the course of treatment. Most of them are not even aware about the side effects of these painkillers and continue using them even for mild aches and discomfort as it is easily available and accessible which leads to overuse and abuse.
Doctors prescribe once and the patients use it on a daily basis whenever they feel pain bcoz they don’t want to pay the doctor their fees for the prescription of how many days meds needs to be taken or it’s just a minor cause and doesn’t need meds at all
People need to be educated on this!!
The opioid drugs are prescribed medicines. If a doctor write a prescription for opioid drugs for example at night for 5 days, the pharmacist should only give 5 and punch the prescription for delivery so it can’t be next time. But we are not doing pharmacy give medicines for profit and patients using that for drug abuse.