Assessment of Rational Use of Veterinary Drugs in Modjo Veterinary Clinic, Ethiopia

ABSTRACT

A retrospective study was conducted from November 2017 to April 2018 at Modjo veterinary clinic in East Shoa zone, Oromia region, central Ethiopia with the aim of evaluating the current rational use of veterinary drugs on live stock. In this study, a total of 1660 drug products were prescribed for a total of 1500 randomly selected animal patients. The average number of drugs prescribed per encounter was 1.11 with maximum of three. The percentage of antimicrobials and anthelmintic encountered were 60.41% (1003/1660) and 35.24% (585/1660), respectively. The most commonly prescribed antimicrobials were oxytetracycline 864 (52.04%), penicillin and streptomycin combination 136 (8.19%) and anthelmintics were ivermectine 560(33.7%) and albendazole 17(1.02%). Among all patients admitted to Modjo veterinary clinic 98.2% were treated empirically, without getting correct definitive (laboratory supported) diagnosis. Antimicrobials were prescribed irrationally for cases which were tentatively diagnosed as parasitic 8.6%. Besides, anthelmintics were prescribed irrationally for cases which were tentatively diagnosed as bacteria 28.7% and viral 3.8%. The finding has shown problems in generic prescribing,incorrect diagnosis, over use of drug and misuse of drugs. Therefore improve availability of key essential drugs on stock through good drug supply management to reduce misuse of drugs and therapeutic failure is recommended.