So, while watching Lost the other night, I saw an add for a local grocery chain advertising free antibiotics.
Apparently, it’s a nationwide promotion, with multiple chains using antibiotics as a “loss leader” to bring people into their stores.
Well, it has now gotten the attention of both the CDC and the Infectious Diseases Society of America, with latter organization writing, “If you give antibiotics away, it sort of implies that we should use them rather freely.”
Especially during cold and flu season, such promotions only reinforce the false notion that antibiotics are necessary in all upper respiratory infection cases, when, in fact, they only serve to worsen microbial resistance to these drugs.
If pharmacies and grocery stores really wanted to promote better health, they should promote free flu shots, diabetic glucometer strips, or anti-hypertensive medications instead.
Related posts:
- Getting rid of a cold without antibiotics
- Brand name antibiotics
- Google Health: "A terrible idea"
- Free drug samples
- Door-to-antibiotics time for pneumonia
- Why can’t physicians own hospitals?
- Do free sample medications really save patients money?
{ 3 comments }
And lowering the prices on fresh fruit and vegetables would be great, too! Well, speaking for myself as a shopper, anyway.
In our area, they do not dispense the medication without a doctor’s prescription. I personally feel that antibiotics are OVER-prescribed; however, I have to hang that on the doc’s instead of the pharmacies.
I disagree with this criticism. First of all, the antibiotics still require a prescription, so patients can’t just get them whenever they feel sick; a physician has to make the mistake, which is a much bigger problem when that happens. Second, the antibiotics that I have seen included are older ones like Amoxil, which I can get for $4 anyway without insurance. This may actually be helpful because it encourages the use of older antibiotics with more limited spectra for diseases like strep throat, where too many physicians are prescribing cephs that are unnecessary and more costly. Another bigger problem in our area is that Mexican grocery stores and pharmacies WILL sell antibiotics over-the-counter without a script, that appear to come from Mexico. I don’t understand how this continues, except people at our hospital don’t seem to know who to call to report this stuff.
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