Antibiotic resistance at an alarming level

The WHO has made an ominous forecast: an estimated 10 million deaths per year and a global gross domestic product 2-3 percent less than woluld otherwise be by 2050. Such a catastrophe is predicted in view of the rising antimicrobial resistance in people all over the globe. Over-prescription and improper use of antibiotics are the main causes behind their developing resistance against serious diseases. For Bangladesh, where antibiotics can be bought over the counter and are indiscriminately prescribed by even non medical practitioners, this should be a wakeup call.

A report in this paper quotes a top official of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) saying that many patients die in Bangladesh from hospital wounds because the antibiotics have stopped working. A UK-based journal, in a research study, has found that people in rural areas are particularly vulnerable to kidney and liver diseases due to improper use of antibiotics. Forty-four percent doctors prescribe antibiotics without diagnosis as required by WHO guidelines. The research has also found drug companies bribing doctors in cash or kind to prescribe antibiotics.

These findings should be enough to make the government take immediate steps. A comprehensive research is needed to find out the number of deaths and complications due to antimicrobial resistance. Massive awareness campaigns have to be initiated to educate people on the reasons behind antibiotic resistance such as not completing the full course. Doctors, moreover, must be required by law to prescribe antibiotics only after proper medical investigation. 

Unless these measures are taken, we will be entering a time when it will be difficult, if not impossible, to fight diseases that were once curable.