Abstract:
Self medication is defined as consumption of medicinal products by a person to treat self recognized disorders, symptoms, recurrent disease or minor health problems. Globally, self-medication has been reported as being on the rise. According to WHO, self-medication must be correctly taught and controlled. To assess self medication practices in Pakistan various key words and phrases were used with search engines Google scholar and Pak- Medinet from the year 2010-2014. A total of five studies were found. Prevalence of self medication is found to be high in our country. Common reasons found for self medication were mild nature of the illness, high fee of private consultants and prior familiarity with the disease. Community based surveys and studies may be conducted to have exact figures of self medication prevalence of our country. Standard laws regarding the use of self medication should be made and implemented in true sense to promote rational use of drugs