The amount of pharmaceutical waste in Lithuania is steadily rising, with a significant increase in recent years, revealing insights into medicine consumption habits.
In Lithuania, the volume of pharmaceutical waste has been consistently increasing, particularly accelerating in recent years. Last year, pharmacies collected nearly 12 tons more medications than the previous year and almost four times more than nine years ago. This trend indicates that returning medications has become a common practice among the public, yet it also highlights that medications are still being purchased without thorough consideration.
Experts emphasize that if medications were prescribed, purchased, and used more rationally, a significant portion of this waste could be avoided. Lina Ε kiudaitΔ, the interim director of the Rational Medication Use Division of the National Health Insurance Fund, points out that the growing waste reflects both improved practices in returning unused medications and ongoing issues in the decision-making process of consumers when acquiring pharmaceuticals.
To visualize the magnitude of this waste, 47.4 tons of pharmaceutical waste could fill several medium-sized rooms if the medications were stacked from floor to ceiling. Although it's challenging to assess the financial implications of such waste precisely, understanding the scale of pharmaceutical waste is crucial for addressing inefficiencies in medication practices and ultimately improving public health outcomes in Lithuania.
