Dr. Rahi Shoaib
Antibiotic misuse and mishandling blame on the first line goes to the Chemists, who do this in order to accelerate business and earn a few extra bucks on a daily basis. The topmost and rating supplies go out for antibiotics.
Secondly, People who fall sick with acute infections or sudden environmental exposures are fully dependent on these drug retailers. The main reason is “Google doctors”- those who surf the internet and rely upon self-decision counts for first-level misuse.
Thirdly there should be a difference between the Modern Medicine prescription and AYUSH (Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy) doctor’s prescription in which (AYUSH) there is 95% of unethical professionalism and malpractice in writing modern medicine antibiotics flashing to the highest second level misuse.
AYUSH doctors have crossed all the limits and barriers and have left no stone unturned to reach the levels of Modern Medicine. There is also a percentage of cases and people from the AYUSH treated category in peripheries and remote areas of Kashmir who have high resistance to antibiotics and are very difficult to treat in hospitals because no drug acts on them nor shows a gross treatment result.
Fourthly blame goes to the system where the lack of accountability of modern medicine is due to no antibiotic drug policy and protocols “Whom to prescribe and whom not to prescribe”
Thus, all the above measures of misuse have intense black marketing and a role in destruction, menace and antibiotic habits.
More lethal is antibiotic resistance (AMR) also known as Anti-Microbial Resistance for a person than a patient who is under psychotropic conservative therapy. Without urgent action, Jammu Kashmir is heading for a post-antibiotic era, in which common infections and minor injuries can once again kill.
The use of antibiotics can play a role in serious infective diseases only, by consuming self-styled antibiotic misuse that will make a patient more vulnerable to such infections which cannot be cured by any antibiotic drug because of Resistance.
People should be enough health conscious after the 2020 pandemic to rightly use antibiotics but the system is reversed. There is an increase in consumption of antibiotics three-time fold rather than in the pre2020 Pandemic. On the one hand, the immunity of the majority of people has vanished and was altered by the deadly coronavirus.
On another hand, an addiction to antibiotics for the simple flu and fever is on the record on daily basis. It’s not important that antibiotics can be the first option for every flu and every fever, even self-prescribed. Antibiotic resistance leads to higher medical costs, prolonged hospital stays, and increased mortality. GoI has sponsored a new National Scheme for the elimination of Tuberculosis with a slogan to end its roots in Pan India.
The Theme of this Scheme is “TB-free India 2025”. But the seriousness is that there is also the highest ground of antibiotic misuse and resistance. This fight is challenging in the coming years. The impact is when infections can no longer be treated by first-line antibiotics; more expensive medicines must be used. A longer duration of illness and treatment, often in hospitals, increases healthcare costs as well as the economic burden on families and societies.
“Antibiotic resistance is putting the achievements of modern medicine at risk. Organ Transplantations, chemotherapy and surgeries such as caesarean sections become much more dangerous without effective antibiotics for the prevention and treatment of infection.”
Antibiotic resistance is a public health threat of the utmost importance, especially when it comes to children. According to WHO data, infections caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria produce 700,000 deaths across all ages, of which around 200,000 are newborns.
This surging issue has multipronged roots that are specific to the pediatric age. Antibiotic resistance and misuse are health concerns. It has negative impacts on community health globally. In pediatric age groups, antibiotics are misused at peak levels. It is an alarming condition for the pediatric population in future. The susceptible infections occurring are very hard to treat when resistance develops.
Prevention and Control:
Individuals can only use antibiotics when prescribed by a certified health professional to prevent and control the spread of antibiotic resistance.
Never demand antibiotics if your health worker says you don’t need them
Always follow your health worker’s advice when using antibiotics.
Never share or use leftover antibiotics.
Prevent infections by regularly washing hands, preparing food hygienically, avoiding close contact with sick people, practising safer sex, and keeping vaccinations up to date.
Prepare food hygienically, following the WHO Five Keys to Safer Food (keep clean, separate raw and cooked, cook thoroughly, keep food at safe temperatures, use safe water and raw materials) and choose foods that have been produced without the use of antibiotics for growth promotion or disease prevention in a healthy individual.
Conclusion:
Medical Practitioners, Specialists in the Private and Government sector should be in a position to cut down the use of antibiotics in unnecessary cases and the malpractice of generic medicines and local sub-standard companies should be banned to control this Antibiotic Resistance storm. A mass campaign against antibiotic misuse can be better for public awareness as a responsibility in society. Without a proper and valid prescription by a registered modern medicine practitioner, there should be no access to get a retailed antibiotic drug. For prescribing antibiotics there should be a seal of registration and stamping for issuing such types of medicines. An initiative on antibiotics can be taken into the side of new drug policy to save the lives of the present and yield a resistance-free future.
Moreover one of the most important is an action of the AYUSH Board of Council to release orders and directions for follow-up of AYUSH guidelines among AYUSH doctors which is a high need to understand the demerits of writing modern Medicine, especially antibiotics leading to resistance among the population.
Thus, a strong policy on antibiotics is needed to curb the ongoing situation of drug resistance all over State. The frequency of lab investigation for antimicrobial susceptibility tests, pathogens, and severity of infection may be taken into step so that antibiotic use can be in the right direction.
In the case of the paediatric population, Antibiotic resistance is a worldwide threat, raising the menace of a post-antibiotic era where children will once again die because of simple, previously treatable infections. Specific paediatric issues, such as reckless antibiotic prescriptions for wrong diagnoses, the limited options, the lack of trials on children, and the evolving nature of this diverse population, are the culprits in this complex perspective. Implementation of quick antimicrobial susceptibility tests to direct an empirical therapy, encouraging the use of new antibiotics and favouring the inclusion of children in both old and new drug trials.
The Author is a Freelance Journo covers articles on Health & Science. Presently working on “The Pain, Palliative & Geriatric Care” as Medical Officer in JK Department of Health & Medical Education & can be reached at: drrahism@gmail.com, Twitter: @MOJKHME