The government may soon issue restrictions on prescription and sale of commonly used antibiotics in an attempt to avoid development of drug resistance to infectious diseases like tuberculosis, malaria, urinary tract infection and even HIV. Doctors and chemists will have to follow certain mandatory protocols and guidelines while prescribing antibiotics. For instance, chemists will have to maintain records of all kinds of antibiotics that they procure and sell along with the doctor's prescription.
The move is part of the new global strategy, adopted by all member countries of the World Health Organization, to fight drug-resistant diseases. While WHO will assess implementation of the strategy at its ongoing South East Asia Regional Committee meeting in Timor Leste, India is so far ahead of the May 2017 deadline set up at the World Health Assembly meeting of WHO in Geneva in May,…
