Health conference: ‘Say no to antibiotics without prescription’
Health experts expressed concern over the general lack of awareness about hygienic practices, especially in healthcare institutes, along with the arbitrary usage of antibiotics in the country.
Professor John Oxford, chairperson of Global Hygiene Council, Dr Khalid Saeed Bukhari, country advisor for essential medicine at World Health Organization, Dr Arshad Karim Chandio, deputy-director general of health and Dr Samia Baber, director of Health Awareness Society, spoke at the First Pakistan National Health and Hygiene Conference held here on Thursday to commemorate the World Health Day.
Dr Bukhari informed the participants that in Pakistan about 30 per cent of prescriptions lack information on the diagnosis or complaint, while one in six prescriptions, 52 per cent of which prescribe antibiotics, do not contain dosage instructions. Moreover, many medical practitioners simply prescribe antibiotics to their patients without being fully informed themselves.
He said drug resistance plans and resources are not comprehensive, surveillance systems are weak and mechanisms to check the quality or supply of medicines are inadequate.
He advised policy makers to understand the threat of drug resistance, which, in his view, is real and enormous, and needs vigorous response with allocation of proper resources, public awareness campaigns and the establishment and enforcement of clear policies.
“Overdoses of antibiotics have increased bacterial resistance,” he said. “By adopting better hygiene practices we can say no to antibiotics. There is also an immediate need for legislation that would help stop medical stores from selling antibiotics to people without prescriptions from qualified doctors,” he added.
He was of the view that the current health and hygiene conditions made the achievement of Millenium Development Goals very unlikely.
Sharing the findings of research conducted by Reckitt-Benckiser Pakistan, Dr Baber informed the gathering that only 7 per cent of the people surveyed take daily baths in Karachi, Lahore and Rawalpindi/Islamabad. However, 87 per cent usually wash hands with soap, 64 per cent wash hands after using the toilet, 61 per cent wash hands before and after meals, 49 per cent keep the house clean, 44 per cent brush their teeth before going to bed, while 24 per cent wash hands after coming in from outside. Ninety per cent of female respondents said that they learnt their hygiene habits from their immediate families.
The situation in remote areas is quite different, as people do not even have access to clean drinking water. However, Prof Oxford told The Express Tribune that poor hygiene was not a problem limited just to the rural areas or to poor people.
He said, “Increased hand washing can reduce influenza contamination in the house.”
Earlier, while sharing the results of a global study, he said that the worst sites failing the bacterial and mould tests were bathroom seals, fridge interiors and the general kitchen towel.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 8th, 2011.
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