OBJECTIVES: Medications and their utilization are key drivers of health outcomes and access to health care. Irrational use of ophthalmic medications contributes to global burden of partial and total loss of vision. This study compared drug utilization to World Health Organization (WHO) standard indicators to generate data for policy and planning.

METHODS: The study was a cross sectional survey which utilized medical records and prescriptions which were summarized and compared to WHO standard to describe the operations. Study lasted from January 2018 to September 2018. Results were summarized with descriptive statistics of mean, frequency, and percentage.

RESULTS: The average number of drugs per prescription was 2.15 against WHO standard of 1.6 to 1.8. Drugs prescribed in generic form were 38.4% against 100% WHO Standard. Percentage encounter with injections was 0.00% versus WHO value of 13.4% to 24.1% while the percentage encounter with antibiotics was 19.1% (WHO: 20.0% - 26.8%).

CONCLUSIONS: The study suggested poor utilization of in ophthalmic management and underscored the need for regular audit trail of drug utilization in our health facilities as recommended by the WHO.