HEALTH workers in dispensaries countrywide prescribe for patients more drugs than necessary, a World Bank report has revealed.

The Health Care on the Frontline report released on Thursday by Washington-based World Bank officials indicated that the over-prescription was common in government, religious and private health facilities.

Presenting the report at the Ministry of Health Boardroom, the Research Manager for the World Bank's Development Research Group, Ritva Reinikka, said they were particularly concerned about the high number of patients unnecessarily dosed with antibiotics.

But the Director General of Health Services, Prof. Francis Omaswa, said since grassroot health workers often lack the facilities to make accurate diagnosis it is safer for them to prescribe broad treatments.

"It would be better to over-prescribe than take the risk of under-prescribing and the patient dies," he said.

The report follows a December 2000 survey which covered 155 dispensaries in 10 districts in all regions of Uganda. They included government, NGO and private dispensaries.

The survey also found that most of the dispensaries are run by un-qualified or under-qualified health workers.