Some responsibility of this trend is also on the pharmaceutical companies that push pills of diseases earlier not treated with drugs. These include pills for smoking cessation, obesity etc. He said, "There is pressure on doctors to prescribe something. An obese lady came in today and said she wanted the latest obesity drug Duromine, which would have increased her hypertensionI think we have to go back to good old-fashioned focus on lifestyle."

Some of these self prescribed drugs like vitamins, fish oils and glucosamine may bring more harm than good. According to the National Prescribing Service chief Lyn Weekes these drugs in combination with prescription medications may reduce the latter ™s efficacy and even causes more side effects. However she says that some of these complementary medicines like fish oils can also benefit the heart patients and diabetics in the long run. But she says more emphasis needs to be placed on a healthy lifestyle rather than medicines. "Many people will think: I will eat that extra dessert but just make sure I take my statin and that's not what we encourage people to doYou need a good lifestyle as well as the medicine, it's about the two working together,' she said.