Regulating antimicrobial sales in Saudi Arabia: Achievements and challenges

Antimicrobials save millions of lives annually from dying because of bacterial infections, but the rapid emergence of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) becomes a global threat. The Saudi Ministry of Health (MOH) has taken containment measures to limit the misuse of antimicrobials via implementing restrictions on dispensing without prescriptions. Hence, we aim to evaluate the impact of regulating antimicrobial sales and identify challenges that pharmacists are facing to prevent self-medication with antimicrobial agents.

A cross-sectional study was conducted using two sources of data: sales reports from 3000 pharmacies in Saudi Arabia and a self-designed questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of 24 items written in English and Arabic languages, went through multiple steps to ensure validity and reliability and then distributed online. Descriptive analyses were used to present the results.

A total of 106 pharmacists completed the questionnaire. Sixty-three per cent of the respondents observed a reduction of 40% in sales, which was consistent with pharmacies' sales reports, which revealed a 50% reduction in 2018 as compared to 2017. Seventy-six per cent of respondents agreed that antimicrobials' sales restrictions were frustrating to patients. The percentage of pharmacists who reported receiving prescriptions with complete information about patients, prescribers, medications and issue date was 70%, 54%, 86% and 77%, respectively. And 69% of respondents revealed receiving support from their employers to prevent dispensing antimicrobial agents without prescription.

Restriction measures implemented by the Saudi MOH led to a 40% to 50% reduction in inappropriate sales of antimicrobials. Further studies are needed to investigate the methods for improving documentation and prescribing practices.