Availability of essential drugs in Ministry of Health first level healthcare units in Tamaulipas, Mexico.

Objective. To describe the availability of some essential drugs at the prim ary health care units of the Ministry of Health of Tamaulipas, Mexico. Mate rial and methods. Between September and October 1998, all first level healt hcare units of Tamaulipas' three sanitary jurisdictions were surveyed. Drug availability was assessed. The measurement instrument was a checklist of 5 6 drugs and 10 different supplies. Far each drug and input the absolute num ber and the proportion of units with this drug or input was calculated. In the units where the drugs were available, the medians were calculated. The median of the total number of drugs available in all units was used as a gl obal indicator. This same exercise was developed for each unit. Comparisons between the availability of these inputs in the units and stockrooms were also done. Stata 5.0 was used for statistical analysis. Results. None of th e inspected units had full availability of all checklist drugs. The highest percentage of drug availability was 84% and the lowest was 32%. There was limited availability of antibiotics, antihypertensive, hypoglycemic, and ir on deficiency drugs. The availability of oral rehydration salts and contrac eptive and vaccine agents was acceptable. Conclusions, Healthcare organizat ions must find alternative ways to improve access to drugs nationwide, in g eneral, and availability of essential drugs in first level healthcare units , in particular. Two recent initiatives provide an optimistic outlook: dece ntralization of health services for the uninsured and the Generic Exchangea ble Drugs Program, established nationwide in 1998.