Assessment of patient and pharmacists attitudes in Bulgaria regarding herbal medicinal products.

The study aimed at analyzing patients and pharmacists attitudes regarding herbal medicinal products (HMP) in Bulgaria and focus on two main questions: why patients or pharmacists prefer or do not prefer HMP; what are the main sources of information for patient and pharmacists. The inquire research is organized with two similar questions (for patients and for pharmacists) in 10 randomly selected country areas in 5 types of pharmacies. The results shows that HMP are preferred more in aging patients groups suffering from chronic diseases or careful to their healthy condition. In case of acute diseases patients are more disposed to buy modern medicine. The high level of positive attitudes towards HMP (60% of patients and 73% of pharmacists) could explain the growth in their market share during the last 10 years but did not correspond with the low volume of HMP kept on stock. It also did not correspond to the preference in 56% of all cases towards modern medicines. In general pharmacists also recommend HMP for chronic diseases or in case of light disorders. Availability and reliability of information for HMP is insufficient for patients and pharmacists as well. They need more independent sources of information especially for newly registered HMP with herbs from different geographic origins. Scientists and regulatory agencies should expand their efforts in providing appropriate and reliable information to the society and professionals.