[Expenditures on medicines at provincial hospitals in the Cape. A comparative analysis from 1982-1989]

Total expenditure on medicines at various hospitals within the Cape Provincial Administration (CPA) branch of hospital and health services has increased minimally in relation to the consumer price index of 1982 (CPI-1982). However, the calculated cost of medication per patient unit differed greatly between the hospitals studied. Calculations based on CPI-1982 showed the increase at Tygerberg Hospital (TBH) to be 24.3% lower than the increase in CPI. Based on the CPI-1985, the increase at TBH was 4.01% higher than the CPI increase. At another academic hospital the increase based on CPI-1982 was 35.78%, at two large non-academic hospitals it was 45.31% and 17.71% respectively, and for the CPA as a whole it was 18.83%. Direct comparisons of cost per patient unit between hospitals are inappropriate, because of the varying patient profiles and consequent differences in required treatments. However, a cost awareness programme seems to have been at least partially responsible for the variance in cost increase at TBH. A more intensive and sustained programme to encourage cost awareness in the prescribing of medicines is called for.