Abstract

The risk of unsafe abortion lies mainly in the developing countries like Nepal. Medical abortion is use of medicines to terminate pregnancy. Mostly invalid pregnant women are ready to afford high cost without proper counseling due to social stigma and fear of family and society which is in scene among various community pharmacies in Nepal. Thus, this study was conducted in Kathmandu valley of Nepal to evaluate medical abortion kit dispensing practices of community pharmacies (CPs). Semi-structured types questionnaire was used as the instrument for data collection. Data collection was done through simulated patient via simple random sampling technique in 102 pharmacies. Out of six brand of medical abortion kit available in Nepalese market, 32% is unregistered product. It is found that 78% of the CPs used to sell in higher price than labeled price. Most of the CPs did not ask the general (screening) questions and also most of them counseled only about drug dosing and common side effects and price but neither of CPs referred (suggest to visit) to trained abortion service provider. The study discloses that CPs has been practicing the dispensing of medical abortion kit illegally and no proper screening and counseling was done. CPs are providing only profit oriented services which may be due to lack of skilled human resources in CPs.

Keywords: Evaluation, Medical abortion kit, Community pharmacy, Counseling, Screening

Abbreviations: CPs: Community pharmacies; SP: Simulated patients; MTP: Mifepristone and Misoprostol combination kit; Rs: Nepalese rupees