Doctors Must Justify Antimicrobials: Health Min on Over-Prescription Of Drugs

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(Photo: Garima Sadhwani/FIT)

The health ministry, in an effort to control the “over-prescription” of antimicrobial drugs has written to doctors nation-wide to “mandatorily mention exact indication/reason/justification while prescribing antimicrobials.”

What was said: In a letter issued on 1 January, Dr Atul Goel, the Director General of Health Services, wrote:

“Misuse and overuse of anti-microbials is one of the main drivers in the emergence of drug-resistant pathogens. With few new antibiotics in the Research & Development pipeline, prudent antibiotic use is the only option to delay the development of resistance.”

The big point: Antimicrobial resistance, a global health concern, was responsible for 1.27 million global deaths in 2019.

The health ministry, quoting a 2022 Lancet study, also pointed that 4.95 million deaths globally have been associated with drug-resistant infections.

“AMR puts many of the gains of modern medicine at risk. It threatens the effective prevention and treatment of infections caused by resistant microbes, resulting in prolonged illness and greater risk of death. Treatment failures also lead to longer periods of infectivity and the prohibitive high cost of the second-line drugs may result in failure to treat these diseases in many individuals.”

Director General of Health Services

What else does the letter say? The health ministry has also said that under the Schedule H and H1 of the Drugs & Cosmetics Rules, pharmacists too can only sell antibiotics when they receive a valid prescription.

It appeals to medical colleges country-wide to follow through too.

Why this matters: The 2022 Lancet study mentions that AMR poses a major threat to human health and public healthcare around the world. 

According to the World Health Organization, "The World Bank estimates that AMR could result in US$ 1 trillion additional healthcare costs by 2050, and US$ 1 trillion to US$ 3.4 trillion gross domestic product (GDP) losses per year by 2030."