An assessment of the compliance with good pharmacy practice in an urban and rural district in Sri Lanka.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the compliance of private pharmacies to good pharmacy practice (GPP) in an urban and rural district in Sri Lanka and identify deficiencies with a view to improving supply of safe and effective drugs to consumers.


METHODS
Lot quality assurance sampling (LQAS) method was used to determine the number of pharmacies that need to be studied and the threshold limit of defective elements. An inspection of 20 pharmacies in the urban and all 18 pharmacies in the rural district was carried out using a structured checklist. Compliance to seven subsystems of GPP was studied.


RESULTS
Storage of drugs, maintenance of cold chain, dispensing and documentation were comprehensively substandard in both districts. Individual items of supervision in registration, physical environment and order of the pharmacy were also found to be substandard in both districts.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that the LQAS method can be used to identify inadequate pharmacy services in the community as a whole. There was poor compliance to GPP by the private pharmacies in both districts. There are concerns about the quality of drugs and the safety of private pharmacy services to the community. Some of the deficiencies could be easily corrected by educating the pharmacists and authorised officers, and more effective and streamlined supervision.
Wijesinghe
P R
PR
Anti Leprosy Campaign, Ministry of Health, Sri Lanka.
Jayakody
R L
RL
De A Seneviratne
R
R
D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004356:Drug Storage; D005161:Facility Regulation and Control / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D033161:Government Regulation; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006801:Humans; D006920:Hygiene / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D007885:Legislation, Pharmacy; D008009:Licensure, Pharmacy; D017149:Private Sector / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D012034:Refrigeration; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013188:Sri Lanka; D019037:Urban Health Services / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000592:standards