ABSTRACT
Introduction: Community pharmacy is a place under the direct supervision of the pharmacist where the prescription orders are compounded and dispensed. In India, there are limited studies published on the economic evaluation of community pharmacy. This study aimed to conduct a cost analysis of outpatient department prescriptions in the community pharmacies during the coronavirus disease-2019 pandemic on various parameters such as the total cost, average cost/prescriptions, age-wise cost, prescribers, drug class, pharmacy wise, route of administration, and diagnosis cost. Material and Methods: The analysis of total and average cost per prescription was conducted. The study was carried out for 6 months during. The number and type of drugs prescribed and the frequency and total cost of the prescriptions were noted. Statistical analysis was conducted for different demographics and various parameters. Results: A total of 1166 prescriptions were analyzed in the study. Out of 3704 drugs prescribed 99.9% were branded ones. The average number of drugs/prescriptions was 3.17. The predominance of male patients (60%) was seen. On the overall cost of prescriptions the statistical significance of the overall cost was established at (P < 0.00001). The sum of all the prescriptions accounted for ?.10, 86,504.65. The average cost/prescription was ?.931.82. Conclusion: The average total cost/prescription was found to be higher in our study. There is a need for further studies to be done in the field of community pharmacy