CANBERRA, May 9 (Xinhua) -- Data collected by Australian federal government showed that prescription drug misuse in Australia has steadily increased over the past two years, local media reported Wednesday.

Department of Human Services (DHS) figures indicate the number of prescription drug alerts in Australia rose by 26 percent last year.

DHS is responsible for monitoring the use of prescription medicines and uses a real-time tracker called the Prescription Shopping Programme to observe each patient's monthly use of addictive painkillers and antidepressants. Under the system, the government is notified when a patient who recently filled a script for a drug of dependence fills another.

The government has expressed its concern over patients' buying habits by sending 11,614 letters to script holders and doctors.

The most commonly used drugs of dependence include painkillers such as oxycodone, morphine and codeine, which are responsible for two times as many deaths in Australia than illicit substances such as heroin.

"The Prescription Shopping Alert Service proactively writes to a subset of identified patients and their prescribers where a patient may be accessing medicine in excess of medicinal need," DHS spokesperson Hank Jongen said on Wednesday.

"Many patients are likely to meet this legislated criteria and still be obtaining medicines appropriately and in genuine need of the medication."

But studies which say pharmaceutical drug deaths have risen by 168 percent over the past 10 years have prompted leading doctors to call for more regulations.

"It's been on the radar for many years," Tony Bartone, vice-president of the Australian Medical Association, told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) on Wednesday.

"There's been a lack of strategy, lack of coordination, lack of funding and a lack of will in getting this done."

According to a spokesperson, the federal government is looking to work with Australian states to improve the real-time monitoring technology.