OBJECTIVE：To explore consumers’perceptions for pharmaceutical care by community pharmacist when purchasing OTC drugs. METHODS：Semi-structured interview was conducted for 100 consumers who were recruited in Xingqing District， Jinfeng District and Xixia District of Yinchuan，Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region，their expection for pharmaceutical care by community pharmacists was summarized. RESULTS：Totally 100 residents were interriewed，and 97 completed a full interview with effective interview rate of 97％. Consumers still did not clearly on distinguishing the OTC drugs. The majority of consumers chosen OTC drugs were based on experience and brand，a handful of consumers were under the guidance of community pharmacists. Consumers were most concerned about the efficacy，adverse reactions and drug quality in using OTC drugs. Most consumers were not satisfied with the pharmaceutical care in purchasing OTC drugs. Nevertheless，due to a lack of medicine knowledge，consumer had a great demand for pharmaceutical care and willingness to accept it. Low professional level of community pharmacist and staff in current community pharmacy and lack of effective communication between pharmacist and consumer were the obstacles of developing pharmaceutical care. CONCLUSIONS：Because of their distrust on competence of community pharmacist，consumers seek less pharmaceutical care of OTC drugs at community pharmacy though they had expectations on pharmaceutical care of OTC drugs by community pharmacist. Consumers’rely on self-choice of drugs make them exposed to more drug risks.