 Often, poor patients need help from pharmacists to understand which are the most important medicines and to identify the items, typically vitamins, that can be missed to reduce the cost of the prescription to a more manageable level.The essential drugs list concept was developed from a report to the 28th World Health Assembly in 1975 as a scheme to extend the range of necessary drugs to populations who had poor access because of the existing supply structure.The plan was to develop essential drugs lists based on the local health needs of each country and to periodically update these with the advice of experts in public health, medicine, pharmacology, pharmacy and drug management.