With the unscrupulous use of antibiotics leading to a dangerous trend of resistance to the drugs, Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) has proposed a compulsory committee to monitor antibiotic use in hospitals.
MMC took the decision to suggest amendment in the Hospital Registration Act or Clinical Establishment Act after seeing a rise in antibiotic resistance cases.
MMC president Dr Kishor Taori said, "Following drug hygiene is very important. In western and Gulf countries, even prescriptions are audited. But in India, not even antibiotics are audited. Hence, we propose having a committee by hospitals to monitor antibiotics prescribed by their doctors."
The rampant use of antibiotics for the last 10 years by doctors and over-the-counter sale has led to a serious health care crisis across the country. According to health experts, treating gram negative infections — which affect hospitalised patients mostly — is getting difficult because the category of bacteria is evolving and becoming ever more immune to existing antibiotics.
The bacteria can cause severe pneumonia and infections of the urinary tract, bloodstream and other parts of the body. Their cell structure makes them more difficult to attack with antibiotics than gram-positive organisms like MRSA.
"We will have an expert committee and, along with stakeholders, work on how to bring in drug hygiene in our medical practice. It is observed that many doctors go for high-end antibiotics in the very first go so that the patient recovers quickly. While the patient goes home happy, what s/he and the doctor don't realise is that this has made him/her more resistant to drugs. With no new antibiotics in market, we need to preserve the existing ones and use them with caution," said Taori.
In a recent audit of prescriptions of suspected dengue deaths, a Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation committee observed non-judicious use of antibiotics in treatment.
Dr Om Shrivastava, infectious disease expert at Jaslok Hospital, said, "Presently, the gram-negative infections are the biggest concern when it comes to antibiotic resistance. This not only leads to prolonged hospital stay but also to treatment cost going up."
In the recent past, data has revealed a six-fold increase in the number of antibiotics being popped by Indians.
Dr Khusrav Bajan, intensivist from PD Hinduja Hospital, said, "Community-acquired pneumonia, urinary tract infections and typhoid are the three diseases whose treatment is getting affected the most because of antibiotic resistance."
In April this year, the World Health Organization, in its first global report on antibiotic resistance, said it is a serious and worldwide threat to public health. Even the US's Centre for Disease Control and Prevention ranked antibiotic resistance in these categories: urgent, serious, and concerning.
To stop the rampant use of antibiotics by doctors, the Indian Medical Association, the umbrella body of allopathy doctors, has started a campaign on rational use of the drugs under which it's going to educate its own doctors.
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