OBJECTIVES: Estimate the prescribing practices for mild/moderate respiratory tract infections (RTIs) based on the principles established by the standard treatment guidelines. METHODS: Prescriptions and medication charts written during the period of November 2014 to March 2015 with the diagnosis of upper and lower RTIs were collected from ENT, Pulmonology, pediatrics 1 and pediatrics 2 wards of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital. A data collection form was designed for this study. All prescribed antibiotics and demographic information of the patients were extracted from the prescriptions. Each prescribed antibiotic was evaluated for rational prescribing based on the standard guidelines of Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, CDC and World Health Organization. All data was entered and analyzed by using SPSS 21.0. RESULTS: Among the 789 participants (56% males and 44% females), the most commonly prescribed antibiotic classes were; penicillins (47%), macrolide (35.3%), cephalosporins (33.9%) and fluoroquinolone (29.8%), respectively. The most commonly prescribed antibiotics were; erythromycin (48.7%), augmentin (36.9%) and ceftriaxone (27.7%), respectively. The overall level of inappropriate prescribing for all the patients based upon application of the standard treatment guidelines was 55.9%. The major reasons for the inappropriate prescribing were; wrong drug (29.3%), wrong dose (33.5%), wrong frequency (34.3%) and wrong duration (30.2%), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The study has revealed high levels of inappropriate prescribing for the RTIs and in-addition has underlined the unavailability and inconsistency of the current treatment guidelines. The results have significant implications for the health status of patients being cured for mild/moderate RTIs and propose the need for appropriate interventions to be established and presented by authorities to address the matters raised.