KARACHI: All city hospitals bacteria resistant: expert
KARACHI, Jan 13: All major hospitals in private and public sectors have become bacteria-resistant, making it extremely difficult to treat patients with antibiotics.
Dr Afia Zafar, Associate Professor of Bacteriology at the Aga Khan University Hospital, delivering a talk on the use and abuse of antibiotics, at the Sindh Government Qatar Hospital, here on Tuesday, particularly referred to the growing instances of ICU and CCU-induced infections that ultimately expose patients to the multi-drug resistant bacteria (MDRB).
The expert, seeking urgent measures to contain the situation through absolute compliance to proper hygienic practices and necessary precautions at local hospitals, also urged the need for regular sessions of sensitization for staffers of all hospitals.
Dr Afia Zafar observed with deep concern that bacterium, a single-cell organism with only one chromosome, compared to human beings with 23 chromosomes, has emerged to be much smarter.
Elaborating, she said that since the discovery of penicillin in 1936 a series of fresh antibiotics were being developed at regular intervals, yet medical scientists had largely failed to control infections and bacterial growth.
"Bacteria are so smart that for every antibiotic they change their structure and become more dangerous," the speaker said. She held doctors and the public equally responsible for the situation, and underscored need to change the antibiotic prescribing policy at local hospitals and clinics.
She said that all kinds of antibiotic was available in all medical stores all over the country, and people procured them without any proficient prescription, largely on self-diagnosis basis.
According to her, those who take antibiotics without proper medical supervision often take them in doses much smaller than required or they tend to overdose and develop strong resistance against antibiotics.
Doctors prescribe expensive antibiotics of broad spectrum which not only kill the target bacteria but also destroy all those body-friendly bacteria which are necessary for healthy existence.
These bacteria, she said, were present everywhere in the body except blood and their main function was to protect normal cells against opportunist infections. "Ironically, overuse of broad spectrum antibiotics is causing a lot of mortality and morbidity," she added.
Dr Afia emphasized that doctors should develop and improve their diagnostic skills and must not solely rely on laboratory reports. "Before prescribing antibiotics doctors must make sure that they are necessary.
She stressed that every hospital should have a policy for safe antibiotic therapy and, as a practice in the initial phase, only a narrow spectrum of antibiotics should be prescribed.
Urging doctors and nurses to necessarily wash their hands after examining each patient, Dr Afia said: "Mere handwashing practice can lead to a drastic reduction in the wards and ICU-induced infection rates".-APP
