Cost of drugs at an urban primary health care centre in Alexandra, South Africa.

This report provides an analysis of expenditure on pharmaceuticals at the Alexandra Health Centre and University Clinic (AHC), South Africa. Drug costs increased at a rate higher than for the general expenditure budget. The drug cost per script per department varied from R9.43 for patients attending the diabetic clinic to R0.60 for antenatal care patients. In general, female consultations at the adult outpatient department (AOPD) were more expensive than male's and adult's more than paediatric's. The largest share of drug costs went to adult female patients in AOPD and the smallest share went into preventive and promotive care services. Again the same observations apply for drug costs as percentage of the total costs per clinical department. This study shows that drug costs were a significant contributor to the level of primary health care (PHC) expenditure. We discuss the alternatives to cost-recovery in a concrete situation like the peri-urban community being served by the AHC. It is concluded that in communities similar to Alexandra it would be possible to provide PHC at about R30 per capita per annum with about 15% being spent on pharmaceuticals.