The Director General of the Cross River Primary Healthcare Development Agency, Dr. Janet Ekpenyong has warned about the health implications of self-medication.
Dr. Ekpenyong told journalists in Calabar, Cross River State’s capital, that despite several media warnings, people have continued to self-medicate, which is also considered drug abuse.
Ekpenyong emphasised the risks of self-medication and advised people to stop taking drugs without a doctor’s prescription.
According to the Pan African Medical Journal, the prevalence of self-medication ranges between 60 to 90 percent as revealed by several researches in Nigeria.
The Director General stated that the most concerning and frequently abused medication, which has been shown to be toxic to the liver and kidneys even in infants, was the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).
She said that the rate which people abuse NSAID like paracetamol was alarming, explaining that taking any medicine without a doctor’s prescription could result in drug resistance, addiction, stomach ulcer, kidney stones and liver damages including devastating effect on the nervous system.
“This is why we recommend that a professional must prescribe the medicine because self-medicating can cause other effect in the body even mortality.”
