Veena launches campaign against unscientific use and abuse of antibiotics

The timely and critical interventions by the Health department to check the unscientific use or abuse of antibiotics has resulted in a 20 to 30% reduction in the unnecessary use of antibiotics in the State in the last one year, Health Minister Veena George has said.

The State had taken stringent measures to ensure that pharmacies did not sell antibiotics without a valid prescription from a registered medical practitioner. Apart from creating public awareness on the pitfalls of antibiotic abuse, the Health department also set up a toll-free number, wherein the public could inform authorities about antibiotic sale without a prescription, she said.

The State-level inauguration of the campaign against the unscientific use and abuse of antibiotics, organised as part of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) awareness week, was held here on Wednesday.

Ms. George, who inaugurated the campaign, said that efforts were on to make all hospitals in the State, ‘antibiotic-smart” .

Prevention of antibiotic abuse hinges on public awareness creation and innovative programmes launched by the State Health department such as making health workers directly approach people in their homes and talk about AMR

The initiative, which has already taken off in Ernakulam district, was kicked off in the district too. On Wednesday, Ms. George also joined health workers in visiting people at home in Vattiyoorkavu panchayat. ASHAs will visit the maximum number of houses this week to improve antibiotic awareness.

One of the highlights of the antibiotic literacy campaign includes educating the public that most infections are caused by viruses and that indiscriminate use of antibiotics to curb these infections will not have any impact.

The other messages stress that no antibiotic is used for self treatment, unless prescribed by a doctor. The course of an antibiotic should be completed as directed by the doctor and not stopped mid-way and any remaining antibiotic drug should not be disposed of carelessly in water bodies or in soil

VK Prasanth, MLA, NHM State Mission Director Vinay Goyal and senior Health officials were present at the inaugural function.