Earlier medical disorders like typhoid, tuberculosis and whooping cough were considered life threatening, but then drugs were developed that carried out an aggressive rampage against viruses and bacteria. But recent studies say that these wonder drugs are losing their effectiveness.
The indiscriminate usage of antibiotics has resulted in many bacterial strains becoming resistant to the drugs used for treatment of diseases. Medical experts of the world fear that common infections and diseases may soon stop responding to these medicines and may lead to death. World Health Organization welcomes the World Antibiotic Awareness Week and requests everyone to be extremely careful with drug usage.
Antibiotics are a misused lot in India, and it is imperative to de-escalate their use stated Dr Ashwini (Choudhary) Tayade, an infectious disease specialist, who stated that very often drugs like antibiotics are prescribed even when they are not needed. Patients expect the doctors to administer them drugs to get relief from medical disorders and this prompts the doctors to provide treatment.
Usage of antibiotics has been limited by the Government through policies but it seems that many hospitals and doctors are unaware of this. Very few antibiotics treat problems as they used to in the past and it’s a sad thing that people who have survived death threatening conditions die because of a small infection.
Showing concern over the prescription of an antibiotic before the lab tests confirm the nature of disease, Dr Rajesh Swarnakar, associated with Investigator Council in Indian Society of Clinical Research, said “Hospitals are supposed to audit the bugs that they find in the ICU and prepare a list called formulary of drugs that are most effective in their set-up. Most hospitals don’t have such lists. It was improper use antibiotics that caused the tuberculosis epidemic in India to worsen.”
Dr Madhavi Deshmukh, from Texas, USA, stated that it is not necessary for the doctors to prescribe higher antibiotics for simple conditions as “Research on new antibiotics is not being undertaken as it is not profitable for pharmaceutical companies. This is one area that government should get into. As far as policies are concerned, until government comes up with more practical guidelines, organizations like Indian Medical Association and Hospital Board Association of India can chip in.”
